Together We Fall
by Warponyrider
Summary: Abel wakes up after the fight with Cain (manga) his life as he knew it has changed, HE has changed... Help comes to him from unexpected sources. As he presses forth to stop Cain, he finds temptation is a hard thing to bear. Astharoshe is determined to help her Tovarish, anyway she can.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Abel slowly opened his wintery blue eyes, a white ceiling and a light came into focus initially. For a moment it reminded him of his youth in the lab, and he sat up quickly to assert his surroundings. It really looked like one of the ones he was in as a child.

"Hey! Slow down Abel, it's okay, you're safe here." William's soothing baritone voice came from Abel's left.

Looking down at himself, Abel could see he was in a medical bed, and stripped to his underclothes. He ached everywhere, like his muscles had been strained and stretched past capacity.

"Professor… what's going on?" Abel's voice croaked as he tried to speak, his throat parched. He wasn't hooked up to any machines which was good, but he didn't remember being hurt either.

"Well, you are in a medical room within the underground area of Albion. Lord Walsh thought it was best you were here for your recovery from... um well everything the last few days.. Do you remember much? How do you feel? What do you want to eat?" William had shifted in his chair and had his elbows resting on his knees as he looked at the other man, his pipe held in his teeth, his brown eyes warm with concern.

Abel shifted in the bed to allow himself to lean against the headboard. His silvery hair draped across his shoulders and chest, the paleness of his skin had improved over the night, but still held an almost blue tinge. For a body that had taken so many wounds over the years, nary a scar blemished it, except for a thin jagged line at the v of his collar bone. Hardly evidence of the mortal wound he had suffered several days ago. William was just stunned that the full fusion of the nanomachines had repaired their host back to full physical state. Scientifically it was a wonder and his mind cried to find out more about it, but his respect and love for the man sitting in the bed kept his cravings at bay. To have been dead and rise again, what would Abel's mind be like? Was it still Abel or had the Crusnik taken over more of him now.

"I remember Esther, hearing her crying… And Cain, he was talking to her… he was going to hurt her to get to me. Then the Crusnik took hold of me… rage, rage like I haven't felt before…" he closed his eyes and licked his lips, checking absently that his teeth were still human and not the maw of razors from the beast within. William grabbed the glass of water sitting on a table beside them and offered it to him patiently. Abel opened his eyes and took the water gratefully as he sorted out his thoughts.

"I have never gone to that level before with the nanomachines, but I know I set him back, his butler took him away before I could finish my attacks… Esther was there, she saw it all again. Is she ok? Once Cain was gone, the nanomachines didn't really deactivate like normal, I don't think I did anything more… Then I am here. I feel so sore all over. And the nanomachines are different, I am different now… I don't know how to explain it, sorry Professor."

"That's alright Abel, that is a lot more than I thought you would remember. Esther is fine, no harm came to her at all."Abel relaxed with the news of Esther's welfare. "Honestly it's astounding. You have been down here for several days now, somehow your system went into a sleep mode we couldn't rouse you from. And we couldn't give you any fluids or anything, the Crusnik zapped me every time I tried to get an IV in." he smirked slightly at the memory of the several attempts. "They seemed to be quite opinionated now."

"Oh lord, I hope you were ok! Did anything else happen to me?"

"Oh, pash I'm fine, take more than an arc of electricity to slow me down. And no, Esther was able to get Tres and Lord Walsh to help take you to the elevator that gets us here. You have been here since. Now," he sat back in his chair and chewed on his pipe contemplatively. "What do you need to eat? I have things for your human side, and stuff for the Crusnik. What do we feed first?"

Abel looked down at his lap, examining his hands slowly. What am I now, he thought, am I a human or now fully a monster in the trappings of a human?

William seeing that Abel was unsure, stood up and gathered some items from a counter behind him. Returning he set before him, a cup of tea, granted not steaming but still warm with its many spoonfuls of sugar, some baked honey cakes and some berries on a plate. Then he set a small sealed jar with a thick red liquid in it, beside the tea. Abels eyes snapped up to Williams somewhat panicked when the jar was set down.

"I'll give you some time without my scrutiny, there are a few people here interested in your welfare, and some decisions to be made. I will be back in about fifteen minutes."

Abel nodded towards him, and looked back at the food.

He picked up the tea and once it touched his lips, greedily gulped it down. His stomach growled in response to having finally some nourishment. The honey cakes and berries were soon to follow. As he tried to avoid the jar, static electricity seemed to crawl along his forearms towards the jar. He knew what was in that jar, the Crusnik craved the methuselah blood with a vengeance. Long fingers suddenly started to shift into their monstrous clawed forms, teeth elongating into the sharp pointed maw and blue eyes darkening to a deep red. Abel shook his head side to side, to regain himself from the Crusnik. It wasn't activated yet! It shouldn't be manifesting without the commands!

He had the jar opened before he realized it, and once the smell reached his senses… Abel felt his wings pushing at his back, the air now held the static charge of a storm filled with ozone. He wasn't in control anymore, the beast took the jar and guzzled the lifeblood down without care.

When the jar was empty, licked clean by a long tongue, Abel was vaguely aware again. He felt something different along his consciousness, soothing and familiar like a childhood memory…

The namomachines reacted too, calming down in his veins and mind. What is this? Abel thought, searching his mind for more of this sensation.

Traces from the intensity of his transformation were gone from his body now and he sat there the jar still in his hand and eyes closed when William walked back in.

William cough politely and tapped his cane on the door frame.

"Feel a bit more yourself now with some food in that never ending belly of yours?" He asked with friendly teasing.

Abel started and put the jar down quickly.

"Ah… um well yes, thank you Professor… for all of it." He paused as William took the tray away and sat down again in the chair. "So... what happened to me?"

"Heh, yes well I've got Caterina coming to explain some of that… as it seems like something between you two." William fidgeted with getting his pipe out and cradled it in his hands, displaying his discomfort. "But, bullocks...Abel you died, Cain blasted your head off your ah... body. We gathered you up and put you in a coffin... Then Mary Spencer's attacks got everything in a mess. It's been a hectic couple of days. When I came back to the palace, what was left of it anyway… you were whole. Tres was sent here by Caterina."

"Ah… explains the gap in my mind I guess," he sadly smirked. Abel reached up and rubbed at his neck as he digested the information. "You said she's coming to explain more? Perhaps I should get dressed…"

"Ah yeah funny thing there… you were pronounced dead by the Vatican. I can't give you back your uniform, it will raise a lot of questions. So here's some clothes that Lord Walsh supplied that should fit you." He gestured towards a cloth bag resting beside the end table.

"Oh and before I forget the lovely woman with the red spike of hair and the young man from the empire have also come to Londonium. They demanded to accompany Caterina when news of you having been injured came out."

"Asthe? The empress must have been doing some negotiations with the Vatican… Professor I'm not entirely sure I can be around the methuselah right now alone…" Abel fidgeted a bit as he pulled the bag of clothes over and proceeded to get dressed in the somber grey and black casual wear.

"Well, yes I did expect some issue with that since the nanomachines would be a bit grumpy with the level of bacillus you take in to feed them. As much as you don't like it perhaps another jar or two would help… But I will do my best to stay nearby, or have Tres in attendance." He smiled and reached out to pat him on the shoulder. "It's alright, we understand this is a bit odd for you. Oh, and here's your glasses. I repaired them and tweaked the lenses to have a stronger glare reducing element , as I'm sure your eyes are even more sensitive than before being how well you can see."

"Ah yes that will help me a lot. Honestly it's hard to believe that I need glasses because I see too well but they make the light bearable." Abel settled his glasses on and felt a semblance of normalcy come over him. The clothes showed his towering height and slim figure, the sweater helped hide how slender he was as his wide shoulders let it drape around his torso. It wasn't a great fit but doable.

"Well, are you ready for Caterina?"

Abel sighed a bit and nodded. While William was gone Abel finally got his hair combed and tied back with a black ribbon. At least they gave him back his boots, a good boot was worth its weight in gold as far as he was concerned. Sighing he sat on the bed to pull them on.

"I was worried you were never going to wake." Caterina's smooth low voice carried into the small room. She stood at the door in her less ornate robes, the deep red and gold trimmed dress and cloak framing her slight figure and draped with her heavy blond hair. Her monocle hung from its clip at her lapel, her cardinal hat oddly missing.

She walked into the room and up to Abel, reaching out her hand to his shoulder, then to his cheek, as if to assert it was actually him.

"Well, that would be a plausible fear given what's happened," Abel replied. Her forward action of touching him was a bit out of character for her.

"I… didn't know what to do when we got the news." She quietly admitted as she sat down on the chair, reaching forward to hold his hand.

"William said there was things we needed to discuss… what is it?" Abel softened his voice as he relaxed his hand to her administrations. If it soothed her, he didn't mind.

"I made the decision to give you Liliths remaining nanomachines, in hopes you could be brought back... From what information I've gathered since, Cain is something we are not able to deal with. Leave us the Order if you can get to him. I… can't lose you yet… obviously he knows how to harm you as nothing else has." She lowered her grey eyes and moved her thumb over his hand almost absently as she spoke.

Abel studied her face as she spoke, his eyes widened when she mentioned Liliths nanomachines… Of course, a conversation long ago about how the nanomachines are able to rebuild tissues from recently dead tissue. It explained the odd feeling when he consumed the blood earlier. Lilith or 03 was with him now, and 02 wasn't exactly happy but it was working themselves out in his system.

"You're not wrong Caterina. Cain and I are very similar, even more so now that we have both been fused with the nanomachines at 100%. I need to talk to Esther to know what was said before I… ah well…awoke I guess as all I can remember is she tried to stop him from taking me."

"Is he like you? Crusnik?" Her somber grey gaze looked up into his icy blues.

"Yes, he was the first. We fused him when he had a very bad accident, we didn't know it would change him so much… but we too didn't want to lose him. He was my twin… and perhaps he is still in there but it's 01, a full fusion of the sentient nanomachines that have control." He struggled some with this confession, the guilt of what that fateful day nearly nine hundred ago on Mars had caused. Caterina had been the first person to find him and she helped him find the world again after his long exile. She deserved some of the truth.

She nodded and sighed slightly, releasing his hand and settling back in the chair. The lady of steel was putting up her walls again, her administrative air returning to her all at once.

"So, I can't take you back with us to the Vatican, Brother Petros as well as others including Alessandro confirmed your death. I am sorry Abel, we walk a tightrope with the inquisition and this would have all of us tried for some offence or another by my brother."

Abel nodded since William had mentioned this earlier so it wasn't as much of a shock.

"Astharothe and Ion have come here, since they were in Milan to further trade and peace talks with us. I brought them with me, and perhaps they can help you in the search for Cain. I'm not sure exactly what the Empress has planned yet… but you should have someone with you. Solo missions never go well for you and I can't spare Tres anymore." She smiled sadly as she knew their association was coming to a close. Her demeanour softened again.

"I probably will never see you alone again after this Abel. I'm not sorry for bringing you back, and I wish things had been different. I will truly miss you, the glimpses of you I was allowed to know." She stood up and leaned over to him, looking quickly into his eyes she placed a chaste kiss on his lips in a silent farewell.

He blinked in momentary surprise but then returned the kiss giving his own acknowledgment of her feelings he had always known were there under the surface.

She straightened up and moved to the door. "Thank you Abel, for everything." And she exited the room in a silent swirl of fabric.


	2. Chapter 2

William walked in a short while after Caterina had left, giving Abel some time to think.

"When can I see Esther? From what I can guess, I need to be moving soon if I want to find Cain again." Abel had been pacing the small room, stretching and shifting his sore muscles. William had brought another fresh pot of tea and a hearty snack for them to share.

"Lord Walsh said after supper she is free to make it down here. Meetings have been back to back," William mused as Abel's strides were hampered in the small room. "You know, you're not a prisoner here, we could go walk around a little."

"Hmmm… as tempting as that is, I'm still not sure I can do it yet. They activated without me earlier. That was unexpected and terrifying. I've always had conscious control before this."

Bringing out his pipe to chew on it a few times, William looked at Abel thoughtfully.

"Well, let me bring the Duchess of Kiev in, she has been around you before and survived right? Or Lord Walsh, he did see your other form."

"I don't know if that's wise. But I'd rather take a hit from her than harm him." He rubbed the back of his head ruefully.

"Should I get another jar ready just incase? Or was the food enough?"

"I...ah don't know honestly. I used to be ok as long as no one had a wound. I should be in control enough again." He reasoned out.

William nodded and tucked his pipe back in his pocket. "I know where she is staying at, it's not far given it's also here in the underground facility. I won't be long, drink up the rest of that tea with the sugar to help your nerves if anything."

Astharoshe was working on some meeting notes when there was a knock on her door. Not expecting anyone, she got up and opened the door.

"Good afternoon my Lady, may I have a moment of your time?" William smiled warmly as he stood politely outside of her doorway.

"Oh, hello…. Professor Wordsworth right?" She stumbled a bit as his name finally came to mind.

"That's correct, Duchess of Kiev, I'm glad I made enough of an impression to be remembered," a boyish grin crossed his features briefly. "Abel is awake now, and we would like you to come see him, if you have some time to spare?"

The statuesque woman's amber eyes widened with the news and she looked past Williams brown hair searching for Abel's lanky form.

"Is he ok?"

"For the most part yes, thank the lord. A few friendly faces would help him out a lot right now as he gets his bearings. I uh… will need to attend as well in case he has any issues, medically."

"Oh, of course. Being unconscious for that many days would be a bit unsettling to the mind. Can we go now?" At his nod she turned back and grabbed a dark blue long coat to put over her shoulders. Her ivory hair had grown out to just above her shoulders, her bangs with her trademark red streak, the last of her natural colour, swept to her right ear and trailing along her jawline. William had to quicken his stride to keep up with her.

Abel had fortified himself with the rest of the sugar and tea. Everything seemed normal so all that was left was to be around Asthe. He hadn't seen her since the mission at the Empire, and given what Caterina said perhaps she was a good person to bring with him, they worked well together after she acknowledged he may know a thing or two.

A light knock at the door and Astharoshe stepped in, her tall form, proud and upright. Abel blinked as he belatedly remembered how her hair had been burned short by Radu. Behind her William came in quietly and moved to the far side of the room, covertly watching Abel for any changes.

Abel stood up and reached out to shake her hand as she came forward, to ward off any further contact as much as manners. She looked down at his hand briefly with a slight smile and took his offered hand. And with a grunt took her hand back quickly.

"Ack! The static charge in this place is terrible." Astharoshe shook her hand ruefully and looked at Abel a bit sheepishly.

His face had gone pale and he was looking at his hand with concern. Nothing else had changed thankfully.

His blue eyes snapped up and looked into hers, he chuckled in embrasement.

"So it would seem! Very sorry about that Asthe.

Here please sit down," he gestured to the chair as he sat on the edge of the bed again.

"You look to be on the mend now, Tovarish, how do you feel?"

He smiled hearing her using the empire term for partner, it seemed she still held him in high regards.

"I am alright now, all in one piece it seems." William seemed to choke on his tea momentarily. "You were in Milan on Empire business?"

"Yes, the Empress wanted more information on what possibilities are for open trade to the Outer. When Cardinal Caterina advised us she needed to get to Londinium as you had been injured… I felt we needed to come in assistance as much as anything." She stopped a moment and looked past him a moment before refocusing on his face. "The Empress expressed that your return to the Empire was needed in the coming months. I was to persuade you to travel back with us."

"Oh… well that might not take so much convincing now," he smirked a little since it sort of worked with him needing to leave AX now.

"Cardinal Caterina seemed open to the idea of sending you as an envoy again. Given Esther is to be crowned immediately I'm not sure if you would have an assistant…"

"Of course. I'm sure with you around I'll be alright."

She smirked and rolled her eyes "I didn't sign up for babysitting, tovarish."

"Pah, I'm not that bad." He groused back, feeling at ease again with their friendly banter. "How soon do you need to return?"

"Promptly once you were awake was the orders when I communicated with the Empress yesterday."

"She never did like waiting… will we be able to use an airship to get back?"

"To my understanding yes. And with you in convalescence I'm sure it is more a necessity to help you recover."

"I won't complain, beats walking any day."

Asthe seemed happy with everything and looked at her wrist watch.

"I will take my leave then and start organizing our return?"

"Give me a bit more time to settle a few things before you call the ship. I did only just wake up today you know,"

She gave him a half smile and stood up, reaching out to shake his hand. Privately she wanted to touch him to reassure herself with some contact he was ok.

Abel swallowed and reached out again, nervously awaiting another zap. But nothing happened, no rush of energy down his arm, and his mind was left in peace.

"Ah ha ha, looks like the sparks have died down." He chuckled and returned her handshake.

She shared an amused grin with him before leaving the room.

"Whew, that wasn't as terrible as it could have been." Abel signed and looked at William.

"Was the shock from you or just normal static charge?"

"The nanomachines were quiet when she walked in, but when our hands touched… they got a bit pushy, after the shock happened things got muted and settled down to a normal level. Now that she's out of the room it's all gone away… I think I have a handle on them again."

"Not too shabby at all then, I would say. I think you are ok again to mingle, as per say." William smiled around his pipe, "Perhaps we can meet with Lord Walsh and Esther?"

"Yes, I need to know more of what happened when I was… well… indisposed?" He stumbled verbally as he tried to find a term that didn't sound as upsetting as dead.

"Ha yes that is a polite way to put it, might settle Esther down a little verses saying you were having a nap in a coffin."


	3. Meetings

Abel felt a bit odd not wearing his priest uniform, but the dark grey greatcoat was at least similar enough to his old robes. He followed the Professor along the hallways leading to the elevator into the palace.

They passed a few people, but thankfully for Abel it seemed the beast was happy to stay quiet. A cool calming feeling had encompassed him after the small electrical blast with Asthe. He liked to think it was Lilith giving him some relief from the mad monster in his veins. Perhaps being fully fused wouldn't be so awful if she was able to help? Especially as it seemed going to see Seth was the next step for him, knowing his sister and having recently reconnected, he knew she would be upset at hearing he was injured. She wanted him to stay with her, but until Cain was dealt with, there would be no rest.

The hallways showed recent signs of violence, smashed panels, bullet holes in a few places and the occasional dark splotch of dried blood. Luckily the fighting hadn't gotten far in the underground, but uptop must be in rough shape if this was anything to go by.

"So, uh Professor, what all happened while I was...absent?"

"Oh it was a mess! Queen Bridget died, Esther's birthright was discovered, Mary Spencer tried to take the palace with her undead army…. the pope was lost in the underground, but he's ok. Damn inquisition locked up Lord Walsh, but obviously he was able to get free as he was there when Mary attacked Esther. Having the Order show up like it did was a huge blow, and they were happy to help Mary. There was some old technology paraded out that was just ugly, used microwave technology…my car did some really stellar flying, Miss Walsh didn't seem to agree with my tactics though oddly. It's been a while since I was in the thick of it, but I'm glad it's settled down some for now."

Abel stopped walking and stared at the professor, "I go lights out for a few days and the world goes off the deep end."

"It would seem so ole chap," William smirked, "so no doing that again."

Abel chuckled a little and nodded, "I don't think I'd want to do a repeat either."

They continued on in the hallway till they reached the elevator that would take them to the surface.

Once up top, they made their way to the waiting rooms used currently for meetings with Esther.

The entire building was a bit rough still, plaster and bits of wood had been shot here and there, panes of glass were covered over in a random pattern. The staff had done a great job repairing what they could, but it had a long way to go to being the flawless state it was before the attempted coup.

The side door opened and a butler waved the men into the smaller meeting room. The butler assured them a few minutes and left a tray of snacks and a fresh pot of tea.

Abel took advantage of the offered food, since he would be in close quarters with Lord Walsh. Admittedly he was also a touch nervous with seeing Esther again. She had truly seen the Crusnik in full form now.

"They really don't make furniture for someone your height do they?" William commented as he watched Abel shift himself around on the chair and coffee table to where his knees weren't in the way.

"Not that I've found in a long while, always no leg room." He admitted.

Both men looked up when the door opened to admit the familiar red headed girl.

Abel banged his knees trying to get to his feet.

Esther stopped and stared at him, her eyes glistened with unshed tears.

"Father Nightroad! You're awake!" She rushed over to him and grabbed his hand.

Abel smiled down at her as she held his hand and looked worriedly over his features.

"Hello Esther," he said warmly.

"I've been so worried about you, but it's been so chaotic since the attacks and now they are going to be crowning me tomorrow as the Queen of Albion! It's just insane how much has changed in so short a time. Oh I'm so glad you're ok Father!" She gushed at him and then sat down on the chair next to him, motioning for him to sit back down as well.

She suddenly popped back up and reached for her pockets in her day dress.

"Oh I kept this safe for you after the whole um… thing with Cain." She handed him Lilith's heavy ornate golden cross.

He took it in his hand, feeling it's familiar textures and weight was a soothing thing he hadn't realized was missing till that moment. A sudden warming sensation started in his shoulder and he closed his eyes urging the nanomachines back to zero activation. As it was he felt a tingle of charge wrap his hand and go into the cross, discharging a small arc to Esther's hand as it was close still.

"Ack!"

"So sorry Esther! Are you ok?"

"I'm fine, it wasn't very strong…. are you having trouble with the uh… changes that happened to you?" Her blue eyes looked into his, heavy with concern and some guilt.

He tucked the cross into his pocket and had some tea before answering.

"It's a bit different for sure, but it was necessary for me to come back, to protect those important to me as I have a job still to do. I am truly ok with this, dear Esther."

She smiled and then leaned over to hug him, relief evident on her fine features.

"I'm so happy you're ok. I was so lost without you, I felt so guilty about what had happened in that room… I locked myself in the church for a while, before the main attack happened. I just couldn't be away from you… and then when Mary took me back to visit the Queen, things got really bad…" she stopped and looked around the room a bit, organizing her thoughts.

The door opened and a blonde haired man, smartly attired in a long coat stepped in. He nodded at everyone and smiled politely. "My deepest apologies, a few things held me back from coming in with Miss Esther." Virgil Walsh amended. "It's good to see you are awake and getting around Mr Nightroad." Luckily he took the chair furthest from Abel, and set about getting tea for himself and Esther.

"It's good to be about, and thank you very much for the clothes on such short notice."

Esther smiled at the two men, and took the offered cup from Virgil.

"Lord Walsh has been a most excellent host and has given me so much help these last few days. Did Professor fill you in much on what happened?"

"Ah… well no, other than a quick summary that had a lot of stuff happen while I was uh… indisposed." Abel admitted. "I was really hoping to hear from you what happened especially in the church as my memory kind of well... stopped back in that room when I saw Cain."

"Well, if I may, the quick and dirty of it was Mary Spencer used her undead army to take the throne after she had slowly poisoned the Queen. Then there was some assistance from this Rosenkreuz Order, that had somehow gotten a hold of the Excalibur weapon that was stolen from the ghetto." Abel's eyes widened at the name of the weapon.

"The man that was with Cain is Issac von khampher and has extensive knowledge with ancient technology… I have been trying to find him since my early days in Albion" William interjected.

"Yes, it seems that he was able to get some things while the confusion of your death had us preoccupied. This Excalibur weapon is quite nasty and killed quite a few with its limited use. One of Mary's lieutenants managed to get on the Pope's airship, but was neutralized by a high ranking inquisition member. While that was going on her other lieutenant had whipped up the public to attack the ghetto, we were ready for a bloodbath… then Miss Esther bravely stood up to them and turned the angry mob around into a more sensible group. We were able to kill that lieutenant as well, and gained some knowledge of Mary's intentions." Virgil nodded towards Esther and offered her tea, and took a sip of his as well.

"While we were trying to figure out how to stop the Excalibur weapon, Father Tres had made it to your tomb, and was attacked by… ghouls is what comes to mind… Esther and I rushed over to the Abbey. Mary Spencer was there in an armoured battle suit. Father Tres and I fought the ghouls to protect your coffin as well as Miss Esther. That was when Issac and his master, Cain entered the Abbey with intentions to take your corpse… Mary at the end tried to protect Esther from him but perished. We tried an assault on him but he severely damaged Father Tres, and I am still… recovering from the black substance he hit me with...it was truly the most painful thing to happen to me. Miss Esther stood in his way, and that's when you kind of well, erupted. When everything was done Tres and I were able to get back into the Abbey to get you to our infirmary."

Virgil looked into his teacup and settled back into his chair a little more. Abel looked at him a bit more closely and could sense his bacillus count was still quite low as a result of Cain's nanomachines attacking his system, it would likely take another week for the methuselah to feel steady again.

"All of our intel says they went back to the mainland after they escaped your attacks. Perhaps Albion is safe for now but I have the feeling this is only the beginning"

"Thank you for your report Lord Walsh, thanks again for your efforts against him. I would um… recommend upping your diet for a bit to regain your strength. The black stuff he got on you would have depleted all of the bacillus in your blood…"Vigil's eyes widened as he understood more of what Abel's advice meant. "And yes I do greatly agree with you in regards to this is just the start for Cain. I will be leaving soon to go after him. No one else can defeat him as there is nothing else like him on earth except… me, given him and I are of the same monster." Abel's voice drifted off and he awkwardly drank the last of his tea.

"Father you are not a monster! Granted you're more than human but not a monster." Esther stood up and faced him fully. "I saw how you protected me from harm, a monster wouldn't do that, so don't ever say that again about yourself!" She was quite flushed and had her fists clenched as she spoke, her voice heavy with conviction.

Abel nearly dropped his cup when she had stood up, his face clearly showing his shock at her vehemence.

Esther sighed and got her emotions back under control, she reached forward and touched his cheek.

"Forgive me Father, you're too good a man to be a monster. I know truly now what you're capable of and lord knows we need you more than ever. As you once told me, I'm on your side and I will be your friend as you've been mine all these years."

Abel smiled warmly up at her and with blue eyes brightened with emotion, nodded.

"Thank you Esther," he said softly. He took her hand away from his face, gave it a squeeze and released it. No other words could portray his feelings of thankfulness at her declaration.

William coughed politely, "Lord Walsh what are the plans from Albion going forward?"

"Ah yes, after the massacre of the House of Lords, death of Queen Bridget and a substantial loss of life within the city it looks like Albion is in need of repair. What lords remain have chosen to elevate Miss Esther to be crowned tomorrow to help with both political and public relations. A few of us have stepped forward to guide our young queen at this turbulent time. I do hope with this change that the ghetto will have a chance to be known for our people and not just our technology… as I do have some disgruntled residents who struggle with our shadowed existence. But we must take it slowly since the Inquisition is now aware of our residence, if Pope Alessandro can continue to support our acceptance, things might really come around."

Everyone nodded in agreement of Virgil's words and hope for a better future.

"Well Esther it looks like you really have your work cut out for you. But I think truly you're the lady for the job. I will be leaving after your coronation, the Empire has requested I return for a time, which since my position at AX is...um...well done in, it's a good place to start my search for him."

"Have you spoken with Cardinal Caterina?" Esther asked

"Yes, she was one of my first visitors once I came around. She is aware of my plans and I will do my best to be in somewhat regular contact."

"That's all I can hope for, if I can't be your partner I want to at least know you have others looking out for you." She smiled a bit sadly.

Virgil checked his pocket watch and stood up.

"I sincerely apologize but there is much yet to do Miss Esther, we really need to continue our day…"

Everyone else stood up, Abel again banging his knee on the table and clanking the teacups on their saucers.

"Oh Father, even being back from the dead you still have no grace," Esther teased and gave him a friendly hug before leaving.

Virgil nodded in farewell and followed her out.

Abel sighed to himself and looked to the professor.

"Would Tres be any help before I leave?"

"He's still in repairs actually. His circuitry took a major hit and I have him on a sleep mode until I can source more materials for him. Lord Walsh has promised assistance after the coronation."

"Then perhaps I should go ready myself for my journey. Being um… retired from AX do I get any money for my efforts?" He asked hopefully.

William laughed and patted him on the shoulder as they left the meeting rooms.

"Your retirement fund is something Caterina kept well stocked for you. I will take your bills to her to deal with one last time. Something about funeral costs are a write off." Both men smirked a little about the tedious nature of books.

They made their way to the market area of the ghetto since the Terran markets were closed for the day. Abel was able to pick up several sets of suitable traveling clothes and gloves. He wanted something that would absorb some of the electricity he tended to emit now.

Once back at the room, Abel was happy to sit and take in some late supper. The nanomachines had stayed quiet until the last vendor when some of their electronics reacted to his static charge. Thankfully William had stayed around just in case.

"Your system has gotten even higher in its metabolism than before. I know you won't like hearing this but… you need more blood in your diet to keep things... quiet." William said as he chewed on his pipe while sitting in Abel's room.

Abel sighed as he finished the last bites of his meal. How to solve this issue without blood or copious amounts of food was tricky. Before he just kept the crusinik barely sustained with sugar and when forced took blood from the vampires they killed. Now he was going to be surrounded by dreadful temptations for a fully fused crusnik.

"I could see about doing a similar pill form that they use for their blood needs but it will take me some time.. If you have trouble keeping it down, perhaps letting the Duchess of Kiev know exactly what you are and need to remain stable." William mused as he noticed Abel's discomfort rising as he mulled over the issue.

"Perhaps you are right, but I will wait till we are back to the Empire since if I am to travel alone at least she is safely home. There is no where here I can get a good chance at understanding what changes have happened to me without causing a scene… not without going to the forgotten areas of the facility, and honestly it's best left untouched even from me. So far I have an easily triggered electrical field, and activation that does not need commands just want or intent… I will need to be more mentally aware of it than before I guess."

"Fair enough. Well I need to retire for the night, want me to come find you before the coronation?"

"No, I will find you and Caterina before I leave, no worries there. Please get your rest, I'm sure you need a break from watching me all day."

William smiled and tucked his pipe away. When he got up he patted Abel's shoulder and let himself out.

Once alone Abel fussed with his packing, making sure it was all going to fit in his old suitcase. Surprisingly his spare set of priest robes were still tucked inside. A note written in Caterina's stylized lettering read "you never know when some faith can come in handy. -C." He smiled as his ran his thumb along the writing before placing it back with the robes. He was grateful that she had the foresight to give him a way to gather information. Most of the smaller frontier towns were suspicious of a random stranger asking questions, and yet they bubbled with information when a priest asked. Humans were an odd bunch overall, he mused.


	4. Wanderings and Dreams

Asthe was restless, she knew Abel needed time to get things sorted, but being cooped up in a small room was getting on her nerves. It was over two weeks since they left the Empire, and she really needed to get back. Sighing, she grabbed her coat and went out into the hall. Looking both ways she settled on going left.

There was little damage to the walls here, and slowly she came upon the underground city. It was shocking to see the ingenuity used to build housing and stores from top to bottom, no space was wasted yet it wasn't cluttered. Housing was higher up with large catwalks accessing them, and the stores and workshops on the main level. She guessed the area to be about 10-12 stories in height and roughly equivalent to two city blocks at the Empire. The empress would be intrigued to hear about this place.

Asthe wandered along the vendors casually looking at the clothing, food and various wares. She picked up a few changes of clothes that she felt might be better for her journeys into the Outer than what she had. The styles here were a lot more covering, with plaids and soft wools, earthy tones rather than the jewel tones of the Empire."Well, I think I've reached my suitcase limit." She said to herself as she spied a small food vendor.

Remembering how Abel would eat lots at any chance, having some snacks on hand was perhaps a good thing to do, as well as get herself a decent supper.

On her way back she stopped at Ion Fortuna's room. He was apparently out… likely trying to bother Esther, she figured. While a romantic relationship with terrans was just not done, it was good for the young lord to be around Esther, she inspired him in ways that no one else had. It was really too bad that Esther was Terran, and now the Queen of Albion. Between a fleeting lifespan and responsibilities the two kids would likely spend only moments together after this.

Returning to her room, she packed away her purchases and casually nibbled at her meal of steamed vegetables and pasta.

The early negotiations with Caterina were finished for now and Albion was obviously not in a state to entertain such ideas. Through, the methuselah community would likely be overjoyed at the idea of contact with the Empire.. ugh politics was tiring work, she wasn't sure she was cut out to keep being the go between. If only Abel would message her so that they could leave soon, this state of waiting was frustrating. She sighed looking at the clock, maybe he was back from his meetings.

A little while later she knocked on his door, half expecting no answer.

"Oh, hello Asthe! This is good timing since it dawned on me that I had no idea where you were staying at, and going door to door seemed excessive." Abel said, bashfully rubbing the back of his head.

Asthe rolled her eyes and walked into his room. On the bed was his suitcase and it looked full.

"Are you leaving with or without me?" She arched an eyebrow at him.

He chuckled and shook his head."As long as the offer was still on the table to go with, I would prefer that to walking."

"Good, this waiting around has me going batty."Abel got a weird look on his face, and then laughed.

"What? Did I say something wrong?" She demanded, confused at his amusement.

"Ah no, just ah because of some literature I once read, vampires turning into bats as a common belief or folklore from long ago." He was rewarded with a disbelieving snort from his lovely companion.

"That's impossible, we might need blood but a bat is like the size of a...a squirrel, where would the rest of my mass go?"

He almost couldn't contain his mirth. "Magic."

She rolled her eyes again and sat down in the other chair."What is the plan for tomorrow then, tovarish?" She asked, changing the subject. He really could be such a fool.

"I need to see a few people and hopefully catch a moment with Esther, then it would be best to be on our way."

"That works as I don't think I could talk Ion out of missing her coronation anyway."

"No, I bet not." He smirked. "They are quite the pair together."

"It has been good for him to see her again, and it will likely be the last time they can talk freely."

He nodded and it seemed like he was going to say more when he frowned, closing his eyes briefly.

She reached forward and placed her hand over his, "are you ok?"

He startled at her touch and looked at her blankly for a moment. His eyes looked slightly red to her. Something was definitely wrong. His skin seemed a bit dark too.

"Sorry! Just ah a bit of a… dizzy spell really." He patted her hand quickly and moved away, breaking contact abruptly.

Asthe felt he wasn't exactly truthful but it wasn't her place to pry.She watched him go over to his bags and grab out a small bit of food.

"Well it's going to be a busy day tomorrow, I'm sure you have a few more things to do." Abel said after quickly eating his snack, and Asthe knew a dismissal when she heard one.

"Take it easy and rest up, I will take care of the arrangements for our ship. You look like you have overdone it today perhaps."

He nodded, but wouldn't meet her eyes."Do you need a doctor?"

"You are probably right, pushed my limits… I will see you tomorrow, thanks tovarish."

She was a little puzzled by his reactions, but then again he was Abel.

Once she was out of the room, Abel took a deep breath. Everything had been good when suddenly he couldn't think, let alone speak because the crusnik was almost salivating at the closeness of fresh bacillus filled blood. His teeth has begun to lengthen when she had touched his hand. Luckily it jarred him enough to push back the transformation. Food had barely interrupted the imagines of him attacking her, the crusnik's dark yearnings clamoured for release.

"First it's activating without commands, then generating electricity randomly and now this… How am I going to get a handle on this?" He muttered to himself, pacing in his little room. Full fusion seemed to have removed some of the division between himself and 02. It was a terrifying thought, his beast taking over more control than it had before.

Seth… Seth must have something in place to cope with the nanomachines. The faster he could get to her the better it would be. The journey there would take roughly eight hours, which he could plead illness and try to sleep the entire trip. Otherwise he might have to confess his monstrous side to Asthe just for her safety.

Remembering an earlier thought, Abel tried to quiet his mind by holding Lilith's cross to his forehead, praying it would perhaps coax her nanomachines to sooth his.

Slowly a cooling sensation came, starting in his chest and working along his major veins. The image of her lovely face replaced the black violence within. Taking long slow breaths, Abel felt things return to normal and the cooling sensation faded.

"If you are within me, you have my thanks dear Lilith." He said aloud, giving a light kiss to the cross.

Feeling quite drained, Abel got himself around for bed, and within moments was crashing into a restless slumber. His dreams were a kaleidoscope of long ago memories, flashes of the UN base he grew up in, the first years on Mars and the realization that Earth had forgotten them. Anger, frustration and resentment all bubbled to the surface within him.

Outside of his room, electrical systems were suffering from power surges of varying levels including a few blown out lights. Maintenance workers were frantically searching for where the shorts in the power supply was coming from, reasoning that perhaps some damage from the fighting had degraded the wiring.

Abel felt trapped, unable to wake as his emotions roiled within. Dark whispers of destruction and gluttonous bloodshed became louder, he thrashed against his blankets and a mantra "no, never...I won't!" Was spoken in tormented raspy tones. The images became more of the war, the millions of terrans he decimated with his crusink powers. It was brutal and dripping in red… until Lilith's sweet face filled his vision.

"Abel! Come back to me, you are more than this!" Her lyrical voice cried in his mind.

He watched her reach out and caress his face."I am with you now, let me help you."

"Lilith…. How are you here?"

"When the nanomachines transfer to a new host they carry aspects of their last. I am… like a consciousness to them, a file copied and coded to the machines to give direction. It's why 02 tries to drive you to extreme violence as the previous host was a dangerous entity."

Abel blinked as he mulled over her words.

"So you're like a sentient program that absorbed her personality?"

"Possibly, or I am perhaps a sliver of the soul that the nanomachines clung to at our death. It's hard to say, this is kind of a new awareness. I like to think a part of me is here now, more so than a program as you will."

"I had hoped you were with me, as crazy as it seemed, you've helped me twice now."

"Yes, it will take us a while to adjust, and unless you are in this deep dreaming state I am unable to do more than calm 02 down and divert him when he gets... rambunctious. It appears in this mental state you are able to bypass him and I am able to project myself to you." She smiled softly. "As your consciousness went deeper he flailed around giving you that awful bit of bloody memories. I don't know what exactly full fusion has done but he wants control of you... I am so glad you were able to focus on my voice."

"This does change things. I need to find a way to reinstate the restrictions somehow." He paused and looked into her eyes, as tears began to flow freely down his face. "I feel a lot better knowing you are here… that I didn't lose you entirely to Cain….I… have missed you."

She smiled again, stepping forward to embrace him, "I've seen how you've suffered Abel, it's time to leave the past and look to the sunrise. I am forever with you now."

He sank into her open arms."I can not forgive myself yet, I must stop him before he destroys what's left of our world." He whispered into her red hair. Slowly everything faded to black and he slipped into a peaceful slumber.

Morning seemed to come too soon, groggily Abel got himself around, dressing in his new clothes and setting aside the borrowed set. It was a bit odd to wear something that wasn't a uniform, since most of his life had been somewhat regimented. William was very helpful with picking out stuff that was similar to his priest uniforms in cut and darker colours.

Clipping the chain of Lilith's cross to allow it to hang inside his overcoat and close to his body, he felt like he was ready to start this new chapter in his long life.


	5. Coronation

William was waiting near the entrance of the underground when Abel stepped out.

"Good morning, good sir." William greeted him warmly.

"Professor! I hope you haven't been waiting long."

"Oh just a little, Caterina asked me to accompany you to meet up with her. So, how are you holding up?"

The men started walking towards the main buildings. It was a cloudy day, not quite rain yet but in Londonium it was always a step away from a shower.

"I had a few rough spots last night but… I think I am on my way to getting a handle on it. The nanomachines are a bit more sentient than you and I first thought."

William's expression sharpened with curiosity. "Oh? I admit it's something I've wondered.. will you tell me more about it?"

Abel had always liked that about William, he never pushed him no matter how badly his scientific mind wanted to dissect the mystery that the crusnik presented, and it built between them a strong bond of trust.

"Hmm, well... it does seem that the nanomachines absorb some of the consciousness of their previous host… which is part of why I believe I'm having trouble right now. Also, not all of my nanomachines are 02… Caterina had Tres give me what was left of 04, and some of her awareness transferred to me… and luckily she was a much more reasonable host than whatever 02 had.."

William Walter Wordsworth was rarely without something to say. He looked at his silver haired friend, the paleness of his skin, and the wintery cast of his blue eyes as his mind rapidly processed the fact that there was now two sentient forms inside of that tall lanky frame. William stopped and dug out his pipe.

"So… what will happen when you activate the crusnik?" He asked as he Iit his pipe.

"I hope it will be the same as before, once I can figure out how to get the restrictions back in place. Remembering how we had deduced the nanomachines to being a complex set of programs, well some of the uh… firewalls per say were torn down when I went to 100%. Cain appears to have fallen fully to his crusnik, the host overtaken by the virus or more like the symbiote… what I must avoid at all costs.." Abel looked past William and towards the far horizon. "I hope to stay stable enough to get more answers while in the Empire. From there perhaps I can have my monsters working with me instead of against, right?"

"That is the hope," he paused, grinning around his pipe. "When you stop tripping on your feet and eating everything in sight… you can do some pretty amazing things."

Abel grinned back and started walking again.

"Leaping out of a coffin has done wonders for my coordination, but I do seem to eat more." Abel remarked

William gave him a sidelong glance and chuckled.

"Some sarcastic wit must have come out of that pine box too."

Abel laughed and nodded. "Perhaps."

Once inside the palace, they could see the general hectic chaos of the many workers sent in to do the last repairs before the afternoon coronation. They weaved around the busy men and women, slowly heading towards the common area that Caterina had said she would be in.

Along the way, Abel did catch a quick glimpse of Virgil looking distractly at some notes, beside him was surprisingly, Ion. Abel waved towards them, Virgil was too absorbed in his task notice, but Ion did and he waved back enthusiastically.

"Ion is about in the daytime?" Abel questioned aloud.

"Hmm? Oh, the young lord, yes apparently using silver nitrate depletes the bacillus to where they can tolerate low sunlight environments. It was something Lord Walsh had developed so he could serve Queen Bridget better. I guess for the first while it hurts like the dickens as it eats the bacillus cells, so I'm a bit impressed to see Lord Fortuna taking the plunge to be around Esther more."

"I'm not surprised, he would do it as he holds her in high esteem. But that's very interesting about the silver nitrate, I'm curious if the nanomachines would react to him."

William paused thoughtfully. "From what we know of them, it shouldn't react… even with your levels."

Abel nodded and they continued on their way.

Cardinal Caterina sat in an informal meeting room that had been spared from the damage parts of the wing had taken. She sat comfortably in one of the chairs, a slender figure with abundant blonde curls that draped across her shoulders under her large cardinal cap. A full service of tea sat before her, Abel was expected given the amount of buns, cookies and other light snacks.

"Good morning gentlemen," she said as they entered the room and settled around the table.

"Your Eminence, I trust you have been well?" Abel said as he found a chair that somewhat fit, and poured tea. He remembered her words at their last meeting, how the lady of steel had said her goodbye to her agent and friend.

"I have, thank you Abel. I was able to get some information for you about the Order since the incident here. Some members have been spotted near the Outer lands to the East, south of the Empire and a few officers in Carthage. No word on Cain or his butler yet… the few who were spotted was due to a bit of terrorist bombings that could be a smoke screen to cover their tracks."

"That is very helpful, I hope I can pick up some sort of trail once I get to the Empire. They are trying to access ancient technology and I know of a few more locations. Lord Walsh needs to be vigilant as they might try here again."

"I will relay that to him. So, you have agreed to travel with the Duchess of Kiev?"

"Yes, with your suggestion as well as some answers I can only find within the Empirer."

Caterina nodded, and paused to drink some tea. Abel took the break to have some food, since his stomach was starting to growl.

"How will we stay in contact with you? What method?" William asked since he was done his tea first.

"Can I contact you though Sister Kate? If I'm given an access code I should be able to transmit to the Iron Maiden. It would keep things away from the Vatican directly. I truly don't want to cause issues within for you Caterina."

"That would work, do the same formats as you've done when on assignment, I will talk it over with her and bring you the codes before you leave." William answered.

Caterina reached over to a velvet bag beside her chair, she picked it up and handed it to Abel.

"No one else would use your old pistol, so I had it cleaned up and repaired."

Abel took out his peacemaker revolver, gun holster and a cartridge of .38 bullets.

"It is a pretty decent gun, but again other than you two everyone thinks I use it because I can't see... I admit that with everything going on, my gun wasn't even a flicker in my mind, I am so glad you remembered." He paused and then looked up at them. "I will truly struggle without you both." He carefully set his things back in the bag to strap into himself later.

"It will be quite the experience I'm sure. I do hope that you can convince Astharoshe to join you when you go after him." Her eyes softened for a moment before she reached down to look at her watch.

"It's almost time for the coronation. I must do a few more things."

"Of course! Thank you again, Caterina… and I will see you again, I promise." Abel said solemnly, reaching over to place his hand lightly on hers for a moment.

She smiled warmly, reminding him of the young girl she once was. "I'll hold you to that."

Once Caterina had left the room, Abel quickly finished off the food since he was going to be in public for a while and who knows what the crusink would respond to.

"The coronation will be in about an hour, how soon are you leaving for the Empire?" William asked.

"As soon as Asthe can get Ion on the ship."

He nodded and checked the clock again. "Ok, well if you want to see Esther I believe she will be through that door and one more room to a grey door with a yellow handle. I'll sit here for a bit, when you get back we can find a spot out in the crowd, best to rest my old bones when I can," he smirked and lit his pipe, waving Abel to go.

Abel smiled and took the cue to leave.

Esther was standing in a smaller drawing room, nervously smoothing the heavy decorated gown she was in. White with gold beadwork, a high pre-Armageddon style called Victorian, that was from another Albion Queen, over a thousand years ago. At least that's what her maids told her.

She had asked for a quiet room to be in for a while once dressed, hoping Abel would be have a chance to see her like he said. Professor and Caterina had agreed to make it happen.

Abel opened the door and quietly closed it behind him, turning towards Esther he smiled warmly.

"You look amazing! And yet… how do you breathe or walk in that?"

"I'm not entirely sure to be honest, I just stay upright and hope for the best."

"I know you will do wonderful, you have done so much already and now you truly have the power to do more. You were a great partner for our missions and watched over me with true compassion." He watched her eyes water a bit as he spoke, so he moved closer and took her hands in his.

"I'm thankful we have this brief moment before we go down different paths. But I am most grateful that you were there when I came back… to give me a reason to fight him instead of staying adrift."

"Oh Father Nightroad… sorry Abel… I can't even begin to say thanks, you… you have been my rock since the beginning, clumsy, foolish and yet always right where I needed you." A few tears spilled from her azure blue eyes.

"Hey now, you'll wreck your makeup." He playfully scolded her and glanced around the room for a box of tissues.

She chuckled a little and carefully wiped her tears with a small cloth she had tucked into her sleeve.

"I was prepared for a few tears… I hope you can come back soon. There is so much I have to learn and if you were here.. it wouldn't be so daunting."

"I will come back, this isn't goodbye Esther it is just time that we must walk different roads. Trust your heart, Lord Walsh seems a good sort to help you, among a few others I'm sure will come up." He leaned down and gently kissed her cheek, lightly to avoid makeup smudge.

"Make me proud, I will stay in contact with William and I'm sure he will find a way to keep you in the know."

She smiled and reached up to hug him briefly.

"Ok, Father Nightroad. I'll make you proud, you can count on that."

A respectful knock sounded from behind Esther. It was the signal for her to make her way to the ceremony.

Abel smiled at his young friend, bowed low in respect. "Queen Esther, your kingdom awaits."

She laughed softly and curtsied in return. "Until we meet again." She watched him turn and leave the room before gathering her courage to start her new life.

Abel and William found some spots to watch the event. It was a grand affair with all the proper pomp and circumstance a coronation would deserve. As soon as the crown and sceptre was in Esther's possession, Abel could see her straighten her spine and soldier into her new role.

"She will be good for Albion, and now I must find my ship and get on my own journey." Abel said standing up and gathering his coat.

"Is it dark enough for Asthe to get around?"

"I think so… she didn't really say anything about when we would leave except after the ceremony."

"Ah, women like to be so vague with times… truly a mystery how they think." William smirked as he shuffled out of the seating area with Abel. "Oh, before it slips my mind, here's the codes for contacting Sister Kate." He handed a small card to Abel.

"Right, can't be forgetting this after all the reminders to check in." He smirked and tucked it away in his pockets.

The sky's had finally decided to open up with a chilly downpour. The crowd was dispersing quickly now as it was a noticeably ugly cold rain. The men made their way back to the entrance to the underground, hoping to catch either Ion or Asthe.

Asthe was leaned up against a lamp post idly crowd watching. Her bags were set by her feet, and Abel spied his suitcase rested along with.

"I was almost ready to send a search party," she teased as they walked up to her.

"Ah well it was rather well attended… has Ion returned yet?"

"Yes he is just getting his bags now… I asked Lord Walsh to have your suitcase brought up, hope that was ok."

"Oh yes. Remember we are flying because I don't want to walk anymore than necessary." He grinned and knelt down to put his gun and accessories in his bag instead of tucked in his coat.

William coughed politely, catching Abel's eye.

"You know how much I hate tearful farewells… so contact me as you can, I will work on the few things for you as fast as possible and let's see each other again."

Abel walked over and offered his hand to William.

"I can't thank you enough my friend."

"Staying alive is thanks enough for me." William grinned a little at his cleverness, shaking Abel's hand.

Abel chuckled and stepped back, "I'll do my best."

William nodded and left Abel and Asthe.


	6. Flight to the Empire

Astharoshe Asran had a strong noble bearing and touch of hot blood that caused her trouble more times than she cared to admit. If a certain silver haired priest not taken the time to show her the carnage her temper had caused in Venice, she probably wouldn't even be around. He was like a cold splash of water on her fiery rage and for all his awkward clumsy had been invaluable in the discovery of the hardliners a few years ago in the Empire. Truly a puzzle of a man… who had acted so oddly last night. Her golden eyes watched him as he said his goodbyes to William. Everything seemed back to normal, though she could see tension in his shoulders and a slight furrow at his brow. Very odd, she couldn't remember seeing him look that agitated before.

"Ion better hurry up or he has to walk back." She grumbled.

"Is the ship waiting for us?" Abel asked when he returned, she could see he was fidgeting with his cross distractedly.

"I arranged a car to come and take us to the dock, it should be here any time now."

"Um, how are you handling the daylight? I know it's not sunny out or anything. But the UV rays…"

"Is that's what has you worried? Keep picturing me going up like a torch?" She gave him a small grin, a teasing tone to her voice.

"Ah, well I hope you won't do that, it makes a terrible mess when vamp..er... methuselah do that."

She chuckled, "I am shielded from the UV rays by both a special bodysuit and a cream. Today I am not flammable."

A young slender man, looking maybe to be mid teens can running out the entry door. A mop of blond hair, large garnet red eyes and an almost too pretty face looked up at the pair.

"Sorry I am so late… the coronation and saying farewell to Esther and Lord Walsh took longer than I thought."

"About time Ion, I was getting ready to leave without you." Astha scolded.

"I wouldn't mind staying here. There is so much to learn…"

"Perhaps once things settle you can come back to work with Lord Walsh?" Abel suggested, as he has seen the boy earlier working with Virgil.

"I hope that can be a possibility. I can't wait to come back and we haven't even left yet." Ion gushed with youthful enthusiasm.

A blacked out car pulled up to them and a man climbed out stating he was taking them to the docks. The three grabbed their bags and got in the car. Abel sat himself where Ion was between him and Astha. She noticed he still looked a bit tense, his jaw was visibly clenched occasionally and he kept his eyes closed a fair bit, perhaps he gets carsick? She wondered. She couldn't remember him being bothered by travel before… but he had been in a coma so possibly he had equilibrium issues now?

Thankfully the cab ride wasn't very long with Ion chattering on about the ceremony, comparing it to when the Empress holds special events, Abel seemed to appreciate the distraction. Soon they were out of the car and taking their bags to the airship.

Their ship was more a courier than the normal passenger style with only a few rooms for passengers and the rest was for smaller cargo.

"Duchess of Kiev, please come this way," a young woman said from the entrance ramp while another young man came up to take their bags with a trolley. Astha looked at her companions and nodded towards the ramp.

"It will take till morning to reach the Empire, my Lady, please rest here in the common room or in the guest rooms until we land next. We were advised to make this trip non stop." The young attendant bowed and left them to their own devices.

The common room had several couches, a small bookcase that was about half full of books, and a sideboard that looked to hold various tabletop games. To the other wall was a small refreshment cart, Astha mused that Abel would likely have it empty in no time. Sighing she decided to head to her room as the UV cream was irritating to her skin and wanted to get out of the sun suit anyway.

Abel saw Astha leave and let out a breath of relief, finally he could relax a little since his nanomachines had been fighting him once William was gone. He flopped down on the couch and stretched out a bit, happy to have some space. Ion, having done the silver nitrate injections was not causing any problems for Abel and was truly more like a terran than a methuselah. It was such a relief, as it would likely take several days for Ion to have enough bacillus to temp the crusink. Abel wasn't sure if he could talk Astha into that, not without explaining why it would make his life better anyway. Tomorrow he would see Seth, and she had to have a way around this, being how long she has lived immersed with the methuselah.

"So, how did you get hurt anyway? No one really said much to me about it other than you were in a coma. Are you all back to normal now?" Ion asked from the other couch near the sideboard. He had found a deck of cards and was dealing out some kind of game.

"It was a bad … head injury I got when I surprised someone in a room underground, they were trying to steal some of the ancient technology. It's not common for me to get that caught off guard and well, things didn't go well for me, obviously."

"It did seem upsetting for everyone how hurt you were. Are you coming to the Empire for the Cardinal again?"

"Not this time, I'm doing this on a more personal level."

"Is that's why you're not wearing your robes?"

Abel sighed, it was a logical assumption that he was still with the Vatican.

"I'm on a bit of a...leave of absence right now because of my injuries and some other issues have come up for me to deal with."

Ion nodded as he looked over his game, seeming to take the information as the end of the conversation. Abel got up and investigated the refreshment cart, feeling that Astha would be back sooner than later and he wanted to quiet his hungry monster.

Astha had changed into her regular empire clothes, structured thigh length dresses of white, embellished with gold and accent swatches of navy blue. Her tall white empire boots went over her knee but were of a lower heel, since Astha was taller than most females. There was a simplicity to the Albion fashions but Astha enjoyed the overall elegance and commanding presence of the empire.

Reaching into her pack she got out her communicator to see if there was were more instructions from the palace. The light flashed indicting an awaiting transmission. Flipping open the palm sized device a hologram appeared of the Empress.

"Duchess of Kiev, I hope that you are on your way in haste to the Empire. I need Abel to come to the palace as soon as you land. I will have Baybars waiting for you at the docks."

"Wow, she is in a hurry." She said aloud after closing the communicator and putting it back in her pack.

She walked back to the common room, Ion was playing with cards but looked tired. Abel was sprawled on the larger couch, his glasses askew as he had fallen asleep reading apparently. An empty plate rested on the coffee table.

"Has he been asleep long?" She asked as she approached Ion, having grabbed some snacks from the cart and a glass of water.

"He ate a huge plate of food, grabbed a book and I think maybe read two pages and he was out. He said he had a bad head injury so I wasn't sure if sleep was good or bad, so wanted to wait till you got back to wake him."

"I'm not a physician but I'm sure sleep is good for anyone recovering from injuries."

"Ok, he does seem exhausted, and after my injections I can understand it."

"Injections?"

"Silver nitrate, Lord Walsh does them to allow him to be out and about during the day in Albion, I talked him into letting me use it while there to spend more time with Esther."

Astha shuddered at the thought of silver.

"Sounds awful to me. Perhaps you should up your water of life and get some rest. The Empress wants him at the palace immediately on our arrival."

"I wonder why the Empress is so concerned for him, he's just a terran and not really that exceptional."

"He saved you didn't he? More than once I believe."

Ion grimaced and nodded, looking down a bit ashamed. "Right he did. He perhaps is a bit more than just an average Terran I guess."

"There must be a reason for the Empress to be needing him, it's our duty to make sure he gets there. How about you go rest, I'll watch over him till he wakes."

Ion sighed and collected up the cards, Astha waved him to leave them on the table. He nodded and left the room.

Finally tired of seeming to lose every card game she could remember, Astha got up to peruse the books in the shelf near Abel's couch.

He had been asleep now for quite a while and no sign of waking. She half turned towards him, taking the opportunity to look at him without his notice.

He was easy to look at, handsome features with an aquiline nose, high cheekbones and a strong smooth jawline. He was still a bit haggard from his injury, a tad thin perhaps as his features were still hollowed but he was already improved from the other day. His pale skin and silver hair was so striking and unusual. His long eyelashes were something she hadn't noticed before, men always seemed to get the longest eyelashes. His glasses had slipped down his face and rested at a precarious angle on the bridge of his nose. Her fingers twitched to remove them before they fell on the floor but didn't want to wake him. Slack jawed in slumber, a slight snore startled Astha from her intent study of his features. She shook her head, embarrassed but thankful he didn't wake up. Ruefully rubbing the back of her head she grabbed a random book and walked over to the window that looked out the side of the ship.

Darkness enshrouded the land, few lights flickered from below. They were just over halfway to the Empire now, the small ship was making good time.

She flipped open the book to a random page and was glancing over the text when a moving light caught her attention.

A small red light moved again to the far side of the ship, it was hard to tell how far away it was. She set the book down and focused more on the light as it was moving forward, against the travel of the ship. Then it did an odd zig zag motion, still unable to pinpoint how far away it was in the cloaking black of night.

"How odd…" she said aloud.

Suddenly the light flashed a white halo of light before going dark and disappearing from her sight.

Something felt wrong, Astha decided it was time to wake Abel. Moving quickly across the room, she had just set her hand on his shoulder when the ship lurched from impact.

"Abel!" She barked his name as she slammed onto his body.

Emergency lights flashed on in the room and alarms sounded with piercing volume. Another violent shudder shook the ship again.

Abel came awake in a rush, not recognizing Astha he tossed her across the room, standing up in a fighting stance. Electrical currents snaked around his arms and body, his eyes were darkening to red as he assessed the situation. He gasped in shock when he identified the sprawled body on the floor as Astha.

"Oh no!" His voice was muffled by his sharpened teeth. He shook his head, to clear away the fog of the crusnik before he did anything more he would regret.

"We have been struck by an unknown object, please get to the cargo room as it has emergency equipment if needed." One of the pilots said over the intercom.

Abel hurried over to Astha to help her up, hoping he hadn't hurt her too badly when she went sailing across the room, knocking over the food cart.

He clenched his jaw to stop the electrical surge he felt again, the crusnik was getting unruly being denied food.

"Astha! Are you ok?"

She nodded and took his offered hand to stand up, she looked at him warily for a moment before scanning the room.

"I think we are under attack, I saw something with a red light that flashed moments before it struck!" She half yelled as the alarms were so loud.

Ion ran into the room then, he had been in the guest quarters near the back of the ship.

"What's happening?!"

Abel moved over to the window, smoke could be seen coming from the one side of the ship and it looked like possibly an engine was affected.

"I think we have been hit by something, an engine looks damaged." Abel's keen eyes caught movement ahead of them, a red speck in the darkness that was steadily getting bigger.

"We better get to the back of the ship! That looks like another missile!" He turned and grabbed both Astha and Ion's shoulders pushing them towards the hallway.

Abel reached over to grab his bag and glasses before running after them.

"We are beginning to lose altitude, the ship is not equipped for damage. Please get to the cargo bay everyone!" The panicked voice of the pilot came over the intercom.

Astha seeing Abel had grabbed his bag, quickly got hers as well as her spear. It looked like they might have to get off the ship fast if it was going down.

Booom! Another heavy hit to the ship, this one to the front and they could feel the ship lag under the impact and dip down. Abel looked around the small cargo bay for parachutes or whatever emergency equipment was supposed to be on this thing.

"That last hit was on the front… so you think the pilots are ok?" Astha asked as she looked back at the doorway.

"If you and Ion find the emergency gear then I'll run up front for the pilots… hopefully that blast wasn't in the cockpit. I think we are going to have to bail so be ready."

He quickly ran back up the hallway and to the cockpit. The door showed some damage as he reefed it open. Inside, the rush of air from the broken windows nearly knocked Abel back, the glass was shattered and he could see the pilots were slumped over in their chairs. He got up to the controls, splattered with blood, he had to rub his arm along the dash, to clear the screens enough to see. The crusnik leaped against Abel's mental restraints, eager for their methuselah blood. Abel's eyes flickered between blue and red as his beast thrashed for release, frenzied for the meal in front of it. He gritted his teeth and held his breath, chanting in his mind Liliths name, hoping she could give him strength to focus on the bigger issue of the ship going down.

"Abel! Let us feed! These souls are gone now and we need strength!" Lilith's voice yelled from within his mind.

He let go of his held breath and nodded, allowing the transformation. "Crusnik 02 activation 40% confirmed." Abel's eyes no longer flickered between his blue and the crusnik's red, his fangs now easily visible against his darkened lips. The crusnik's ability of telekinesis to absorb blood from its surroundings went quickly to work, taking in the spilled blood from the controls of the ship and pools of blood on the floor by the chairs.

Abel focused on the screens to see how damaged the ship was… his talons making the typing hard to manage.

The ship was only using one engine and losing altitude at an increasing rate, luckily it was still a fairly flat descent. He looked back at the dead pilots, cleaned of blood and sighed, reaching forward to close their lifeless eyes.

It was going to be a crash landing, and just how was he going to get Ion and Astha to ground safely? 02 growled within his mind wanting to go after the female and take the glorious blood within her, run to ground and continue the hunt for more, always hungry for more.

"No!" Abel shouted aloud, the wind in the cockpit buffeting against his form. He looked outside the ship and spotted a red light. Another rocket was coming at the front of the ship, speeding towards Abel.

"Activate 80%!" he called forth his blood scythe and his large black wings burst from his back in a flurry of blood, feathers and fabric.

Abel dashed forward out of the damaged glass and onto the destroyed nose of the ship, his scythe held in his right hand, the blade lowered. He took a quick breath and jumped forward again, his wings doing a hard downward stroke, electricity crackling along the obsidian coloured feathers. He had to get to the rocket before it got closer to the ship or it would plummet! Faster, I need to be there faster! He mentally chanted, pumping his wings and angling himself directly at the rocket. Bringing up the scythe he readied his blow.

Boom! His scythe knocked the armoured casing aside, changing the trajectory to the right and away from the ship. The rocket exploded mere moments later knocking Abel backwards and onto the wing of the ship. His blood scythe discinerated at impact, it's skeletal features absorbing into Abel's hand. His great wings flared out as he grappled to hang onto the wing. His talons pierced the metal as he pulled himself along to the body of the ship, folding his wings to stop pull of the wind.

He shook his head to get his bearings, it wouldn't be much longer before the treetops would be an issue, and rocky terrain was all around. He needed to get to Astha and Ion quickly! He grabbed fistfuls of metal as he pulled himself back up to the smashed windows of the cockpit.

Once back on his feet, he gritted his teeth and commanded the crusnik to stand down, return to 0 percent activation. 02 let go of Abel's body and returned to its dormant state, simmering at the possibility of more action to come. Liliths cool presence instantly rushed down his limbs and core to settle 02 down.

"God bless you Lilith." Abel whispered as he ran to the back of the ship where he had left the others.


	7. Crashing into Darkness

Ion and Astha had found the parachutes and were mostly buckled into them when Abel ran into the cargo bay. His hair was blowing around loosely about his face, and his jacket was in tatters on his back.

"Nightroad! Over here!" Astha called to him at the back door of the ship. When he approached she tossed him a parachute and his bag, her eyes full of questions to his disheveled appearance.

"Do you know how to use it?" He asked as he buckled on his parachute and clipping on his bag.

"Not a clue but it seems like it should be easy enough, pull a cord and we get to keep our bones intact." She quipped as she helped Ion with his last buckle.

"The pilots are done in?" Ion asked.

Abel nodded and reached over to Astha to check her parachute, he had a bit of experience with them and wanted to make sure they wouldn't get hurt badly from the harness. She looked at him quickly then studied what he did and adjusted Ions.

"Looks good, this here is the cord, I'll tell you when to pull it. These things here," he pointed at a rope with wooden handles that were by their shoulders, "help you steer but we don't have a lot of time for more than just floating down…. I should be able to find you even if we are separated."

They nodded and grabbed their bags, clipping them with the carabiners on the harness like Abel had done. Astha gripped her spear since it wasn't something to put in a bag easily.

Abel ran over and hit the door switch and rushed back to them. "Ok, we are closer to trees than anything so be careful, getting staked on a tree is not the plan. Grab my hands it will help us stay closer together."

They each grabbed his hands and readied for the jump.

"Alright! Here we go!" Abel yelled as he pulled them alongside, his long strides taking them to the edge quickly. At the edge of the door he gathered up and leapt upwards, his hands gripping theirs as they became airborne.

In the dark it was hard to see how close to the trees they were, but it took moments for the trio to clear the ship and hang in free fall.

"I'm going to let go of your hands, count to 5 and pull the chute cord." He commanded them, saw each nod and he released their hands.

He could hear their shouts of surprise once they didn't have his momentum, and he waited to see both open their chute without an issue.

Ion was ok, drifting down to the earth… Astha's chute didn't open properly! The ropes snagged and the silk didn't billow out, instead it inverted and pulled her roughly around. She flailed around trying to stay upright. Abel leaned forward to guide himself closer to her, hoping to avoid the canopy of her chute.

"Abel!" Astha called out as she continued to fight her parachute. Abel looked at the oncoming trees and decided it was best to save her quickly. He closed his eyes briefly as he spoke.

"Activate Crusnik 02 level 80%."

Instantly the nanomachines sprang to life within him, his wings pushing through parts of his unopened parachute harness. Electricity crackled all around him in the darkness, illuminating his black wings to Astha. His heightened senses could hear her panicked gasp when she saw his wings, and then he could hear her spear power up.

"No! Astha don't shoot!" His deepened voice startled her more but she held back her charging spear.

Abel reached out and grabbed her parachute, letting his wings pump them upwards until he felt her descent stop. Once the recoil was done he pulled more of the parachute up until he had the ropes in his hands, Astha was about level with his feet and was looking up at him. He tilted his wings a bit and they started coasting downwards. Abel could see Ion was nearly to the ground by now, his parachute was snagging on branches as he dropped through the evergreens.

"Pull me up Nightroad! I can't stand this dangling!" Astha called up to him.

Abel shook his head, the crusnik was behaving right now, having her closer might be a problem.

"No, you're safer there." He could hear her huff at his reply, but he was busy concentrating.

Soon they were glidning in amongst the branches of the thick forest, a short distance away from where Ion landed. He hoped he didn't hit Astha with too many branches but it couldn't be helped.

As soon as her feet touched the ground Abel let go of the ropes and landed about fifteen feet away. He urged the crusnik to deactivate quickly while she was busy getting untangled from the parachute.

"Hey! Come on this is ridiculous, get this damn thing off me!" She snarled from under the mess of silk and ropes. Abel reached over to help pull the parachute off of her.

Astha's heart still pounded from the flickers of fear she felt when she had seen the wings, fangs and red eyes on what was Abel. What the hell was that?! Surely the darkness was messing with her eyes, the wings… maybe it was some device he had on him. It had electricity shoot around him so that was possible… nothing else made sense. A bionic device, yes it had to be. The other stuff she glimpsed must have been just the adereline of a failed parachute and almost free falling to her death.

Once freed of the parachute, she stood stiffly as her mind processed what had happened, her eyes stared unseeing at Abel's feet.

"Um… Astha are you ok now? We need to go find Ion, he should be on the ground now." Abel's smoothing normal voice reached her.

Her eyes snapped to him in the gloom, searching for signs of what she had seen…. nothing except for the torn harness that barely held his bag to his frame. Looking down she saw her bag was still clipped to her harness as well, thankfully since it had a transmitter, and her spear was on the ground near her feet, dropped in her panic to get out from under the parachute.

"I'm still alive, no thanks to that damn parachute… it was lucky you have whatever flying device you're outfitted with." She said, watching his reaction to confirm her mental explanation of what happened.

He had reached back to unclip himself from his harness and paused when she said flying device. His eyes held a touch of confusion before darting back to the buckle he was working on.

"I'm glad you're ok. Now we need to find Ion since with the silver nitrate he might not be as durable as you."

She quickly grabbed her bag and spear as he strapped on his gun. The moon was starting to filter through the clouds better and she could see him. His clothes were torn more on his back, two long holes from the top of his shoulder blade to base of his ribs, pale skin would flash as the fabric flapped with his moments. Silver hair gleamed white in the blue luminescence of the moon, pooling around his shoulders that made him almost glow.

"Where did he land? Can you see without a light?" She asked to distract herself from staring at him.

Abel looked about, extending his arm towards the east when a loud explosion could be heard a short distance away, the surrounding areas was lit up with a white orange light momentarily.

"Hopefully whoever was shooting at us will be looking at the crash site and not where we jumped." He commented and started walking to where had Ion landed.

She followed him, looking around for a sign of Ion as much as watching her tovarish. He was evading questions but perhaps it wasn't the right time… and there was a lot she apparently didn't know about him. Looking at his ruined clothes she couldn't see any buckles or equipment for a flying harness but… perhaps it's something really advanced and it blended in really well. She had seen the killing doll, Tres and honestly the technology was around.

Abel felt the curious gaze from her golden eyes, could almost hear her mind whirl with questions and the guilt of possibility ruining his friendship with her, tore at him. How was he going to answer the questions coming up? She was coming up with assumptions as she copes with seeing his alternate side but he could only dodge her so long before she would demand answers. His only solace was that, being well fed the crusnik behaved more in the manner he was used to and not the raging beast it craved to be. Given now that it might be a day or so to get rescued… His eyes widened and he stopped suddenly, turning around to face Astha.

"Tell me you have...oof! Your sun gear?"

She crashed into his chest as he had about faced so quickly and had to step back to look up at him.

"My what? Sun gear?... Oh! Yes I do it. Once we find Ion I will put out a call for help. It shouldn't take more than a day for another ship."

He nodded, glancing at her momentarily before turning back to the trail.

"He shouldn't be much further."

Ion dangled only a few feet above the ground, his parachute having caught finally on a large branch. He couldn't see anything as he was in a shadowed area, the evergreen trees clustered thickly around him. He struggled against his harness as he worked at the releases on the clips, after a few moments he fell the last few feet to the ground in a noisy thud. Looking back at the harness his bag was just out of reach for him to pull down, so he would have to wait for Astha and Abel.

Ion felt the coolness of the air quickly, his system still weakened with the silver nitrate so he walked around some trees, rubbing his arms and stamping his feet a bit to keep himself warm. He found it funny how much colder he felt with his body reacting more like a Terran, it just proved his point how superior the methuselah were in his mind.

The crunch of twigs and underbrush being pushed aside reached him. "Astharoshe, Nightroad!" He called out.

Nothing answered him and the noise ceased. A cold chill climbed up Ion's spine and he reached for his short dagger he always kept at his waist. He crouched down beside a large evergreen, searching the gloom for movement.

"Did you hear something?" An unknown deep male voice could be heard to Ion's left.

"I thought so, in that thick of trees just up from the draw." Another male voice replied closer to Ion than the first. Ion gripped his dagger and pushed back into the tree a little more for cover.

Suddenly the blast of the ship crashing into the forest encompassed him. The flash of the white orange explosion temporarily lighting up the area, showing him a very large human less than 60 feet away. The other man had ducked down with the noise and light but otherwise no sign of seeing Ion.

"Wow that ship must have been carrying some hot stuff!" The closer man said after he straightened up.

"I haven't a clue what was on it, the guy just said shoot down anything that was on the flight path of the Empire. That damn ship took 4 hits to come down."

"Let's hurry up to the crash site and see what we can take. Any survivors he said to notify him."

Ion could hear them moving away and slumped down the tree in relief. At full strength he might have been able to beat them but the drawbacks of the nitrate was keenly felt.

It wasn't long before the sounds of two more people moving in the brush alerted him. Being more careful this time, he waited till he could see whoever it was clearly.

Abel's silver hair gleamed in the moonlight, Ion sighed in relief and stepped out from his tree.

"Over here!"

"Ion! You're ok? We found your parachute and grabbed your bag." Abel walked quickly over to him, looking for any obvious injury.

"I am fine, but we are not alone. Two men were here a little bit ago and I overheard them say they shot us down and were looking for survivors."

"That's a bit odd, but given the explosion I'm sure they will see there's no chance of anyone walking out of that… we need to be careful."

"Perhaps we should bury the parachutes?" Astha said as she joined them.

"Maybe… if I can remember where we landed at."

"The one guy said there was a draw nearby, could toss them down there?" Ion suggested. He knelt down and opened his bag to get out a heavier coat, as his teeth were starting to chatter.

"Ok, I'll go grab the parachutes, you two wait back in under that thick of trees." Abel turned and walked back the way they came.

"Is he alright? Did you have a rough landing?" Ion asked as they settled against the trunk of the tree.

"My parachute didn't open right… so he had to help me. I… think he's ok, at least with all his training this isn't that unusual a situation for him."

"How can he see that well without night vision? Or his glasses?"

Astha stared at Ion for a moment trying to remember if Abel had answered her question earlier..

"He didn't tell me but maybe he's got some bioengineered stuff on…"

"Ah ok, that would make some sense I guess, he had time before we jumped... I hope my system recovers quickly from the injections as I am so weak. Lord Walsh said I would be back to normal within 48 hours of the last dose… so like tomorrow evening."

"Hopefully we are in a ship going back home by then."

Abel retraced their steps and gathered the parachutes, tucking them under his arm until he found a hole under a tree to easily sweep the needles and soft loam over them. Walking carefully back he couldn't help but think that the Orden was behind this attack. They had so many hidden contacts… truly they probably had agents in the Vatican as easily as they did in Londonium, for all he knew the driver of the car was one. He hurried back to Astha and Ion, worry written clearly on his face.

"So what do we do now?" Ion asked, Abel could see he was a bit antsy.

"We need to find shelter… and call the Empire." He looked around a bit more and decided to take them more north, away from the crash site and hopefully some place they can hide.

Almost an hour later, the sky was starting to lighten up when he found what looked like an abandoned trapper's shack. It was quite old but a tin roof and decent frame made it workable. Abel grabbed some downed logs to cover the larger holes and branches filled in the rest. Inside was a small canvas cot and a table with a stool, anything consumable was long gone by various wild animals. It wasn't a tall shack, both Astha and Abel had to duck to move about.

"This should do for now… Astha do we have enough signal?" He asked when he walked back in from adjusting the deadfall outside.

She was kneeling on the floor with the transmitter sitting on her bag. A few lights blinked on and off as she clicked on the control pad.

"It might get through but it will be sketchy."

"Do we even know where we are?" Ion asked, rubbing his arms again, looking a bit chilled again.

"I usually had Tres with me and he was equipped with a locator… given the heavy trees and type of evergreen I'd say we are north and west of the Empire."

"If I can get signal, the transmitter should be able to give me our location." Astha commented as she looked at the screen a bit more.

"I've blocked the walls as much as I can for sunlight, we should be ok here for a while. I'll scout around once we get in contact. Ion you look cold again, do you have more clothes you can layer over with? I'd give you my jacket but… it's seen better days."

"I can imagine, I'm sure I have something…so what happened to your clothes anyway?"

Astha looked up to see what he would say, curiosity openly apparent on her face.

"Some… uh technical difficulties with my gear when I had to help Astha with her parachute."

Ion nodded and went looking in his bag. Astha looked at Abel, an eyebrow quirked.

Abel coughed and looked a bit embarrassed.

She was going to press him but the transmitter chipped with an error message.

"Damn, not enough signal to pick up anything. We will have to find higher ground."

"I'll go out and see if I can find anything… and perhaps some water? If you have any bottles I'll take them."

"I have one, it'll be enough." She dug into her bags again and brought out a small thermos and her small bag of snacks she had picked up for Abel.

"Here, take the snacks too, I'm sure you will need it more than me with all the hiking."

He smiled warmly and took the offered items.

"You should change back into the Albion clothes… they are less noticeable in the bush than your… ah Empire attire… it would help, and likely keep you warmer."

She smirked a little, looking down at her body hugging ensemble of white and blue. "I suppose my nice clothes are not the best for the woods."

He chuckled a little, shaking his head and went back outside of the little shack, leaving the two methuselahs alone while as he scouted the valley.

In the morning light he could see the plume of smoke coming from the crash site. Not much else could be seen even with his vision, and no motors could be heard yet in the quiet of the morning. Ion said he saw two men, so more could be in the area on foot, and with the heavy tree cover, well hidden. Abel decided to keep going north to the ridge that would hopefully be high enough for signal.

The quiet and easy exercise was refreshing for him, soon he had taken off his tattered coat and was comfortably walking in his light shirt. So far the buzz of the crusnik was silent, 02 was satiated still and Lilith's presence was also subdued. He almost felt lonely after the last few days of a constant mental awareness with the two of them.

After a while he came across a small brook babbling away through the trees. He filled up the bottle and took some time to dunk his head in the cold water, his hair was a mass of tangles and the water at least kept it out of his face till he could find another tie. Watching the water he thought he could see fish. It had been a long time since he caught one. In fact it was William who tried to teach him… and it ended up with more drinking than fishing and a lot of wet socks. He smiled as he reminisced before the tang of sadness roused him, as those days were long gone now. Shaking his head ruefully, he gathered up his things and turned back the way he had come.

Early evening would be alright to travel again, the path he had followed seemed to go up the ridge without issue. As still no engine sounds could be heard, he felt confident in thinking the men had likely gone home none the wiser of the trio.

Astha had changed into a more serviceable set of Albion clothes and Ion was sleeping on the cot when Abel returned.

"Any luck?" She asked as she nudged a wooden crate over for him to sit. It was pretty low and as it was his knees were higher than his hips.

"I got some water and a path we can take in a few hours to some higher ground." He took the bottle out and placed it on the table.

"Any sign of the men?"

"No, I think they saw the damage and decided no passengers were aboard so left soon after.

She dug around in her coat pocket and produced a pill bottle, and selected a small capsule.

She grimaced as she set the pill on her tongue and took a quick drink of water.

"Ugh, I hate taking the aqua vitae like that but it's best to conserve the water as Ion will need to take some when he wakes."

"How often do you need to take them?" He was genuinely curious having never had the time to ask before.

"I space mine out more than others, but I'm like every third day sometimes fourth. Most people are every other day and if under heavy work then everyday."

"Any reason for that schedule?"

"I seem to not need as much to keep myself at a comfortable level. Either my tolerance is high or my needs are lower than most I guess. And no, since my Change, I have not had an inkling to bite anyone ever, I'd rather just hit them."

Abel nodded, a small grin tugging at his lips at just how Astha that seemed. He never had to wonder what she was thinking, she was so straightforward and easy to read.

"You should rest as well..: it will be a two or three hour hike and unless either of you know how to fish… there won't be much supper."

"You don't have training on hunting and fishing?" She asked incredulously.

"Hunting yes, foraging for roots, berries and other edibles yes but fishing was not taught since where I was sent to had no fish… and Tres usually did that for me on missions."

"Well I could cook up a small animal and some roots… I did take some classes once upon a time on rustic cooking."

"I'll see what I can find if you go rest."

"Alright… hey Abel, what did I actually see last night? You keep dodging my questions… and I am… unsettled by it."

Abel dropped his eyes from hers and she could feel his immediate discomfort radiating from him.

"It's… not something I am ready to… talk about yet… you're not entirely wrong calling it a flying device if that helps you any?" He said quietly, his voice barely above a whisper.

Astha felt guilty seeing him withdraw so much at her question, she reached over and placed a hand on his arm.

"Ok, take your time, I'm good with knowing it was some kind of technology" she paused a moment before adding,"But don't you need your glasses?"

He looked up at her, his eyes soft with gratitude for a moment. "How could I have forgotten them this long?" He moved away from her hand and dragged his bag over to retrieve them.

"No wonder my head was hurting so much."

She looked at him curiously as he had flipped back to his more easy going self.

"My uh vision is well… augmented I guess you could say and Uv light causes me a lot of issues." He settled his glasses on his face, blinking several times and adjusting the nose pads a little.

"So you're not that blind?" She was quite surprised.

"Oh heavens no, I have excellent distance and low light vision, which makes close up a bit of work sometimes but my glasses are mainly to cut the strength of light."

"Then why were you so clumsy before your coma?"

"People relax a lot around someone they feel is dumber than them. It has been a treasure trove of information gathering by being That uncoordinated. It took me years to perfect it."

"Well you have to so perfected that you being in charge and steady seems weird." She smirked again, shifting back on the stool.

"I would have been a great actor is what you're saying?"

"Hmm, I don't know about that tovarish." She grinned teasingly.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence. Now please rest up, I'll do what I can outside." He stood up and picked up his bag, heading for the door.

"Happy hunting." She smiled and watched him leave.


	8. Hiking and contact

Taking a deep breath Abel walked away from the shack to a large fallen log. Taking out his well used sewing kit from his bag he set about repairing his shirt and jacket as his mind wandered. Soon Astha would ask more about his different... traits, or he will be faced with the need to use it again… hopefully they can make it to Seth's before either happens. He admitted that letting the crusnik have a full feeding had vastly improved their issues and in general he felt a lot better. William was right… again.

After an hour he had repaired the torn clothing to a serviceable state and the soothing actions of mending cloth had put Abel in a good mood. It would still be a while before it would be dim enough for him to be comfortable with Astha and Ion walking in the daylight. Sure she said their suits would help but… it didn't feel right to risk it.

She had asked for some food… perhaps he could scare up a rabbit or something. He walked back to the shack, setting his bag by the opening and peered in to see that Ion was still asleep and Astha was dozing at the table, having taken off her coat to use as a pillow. Having never seen her in quiet repose before… he blinked a few times before moving away feeling a bit embarrassed to stare at her. She was a bold and beautiful lady when awake but in slumber he felt she looked soft and vulnerable, something she would punch him for if he ever told her, his lips quirked up in a half smile at the imagery.

He gathered a few things and went off to the west of the shack in search of food. It was a decent selection, a pouch of berries, having found some blueberries, junipers and wolfberries. Some edible plants of chicory, chickweed and a larger patch of wild asparagus. While he was gathering the chicory, a ship had flown over and hovered above the crash site before moving away, it was hard to see the vessel through the trees could only really track it by sound. They needed to be on the move before any more ships came possibly looking for them.

Ion and Astha were awake and waiting for him. She was working on the device again and he was putting on the UV cream on his exposed hands and face. Both looked up in surprised at his arrival.

"Is everything ok? I thought I heard a ship earlier." Astha asked, closing the device and clearing off the small table.

"There was a ship but it moved on. I wasn't able to see it with the trees but it seemed to check out the crash site… so how well did you do at rustic cooking?" He raised an eyebrow at her, a teasing glint in his blue eyes.

"Um... well, it was a while ago but I'm pretty good at improvising… did you actually find anything?" She stumbled a bit at his change in conversation and demeanor.

A grin appeared as he placed the washed berries, and the prepped greens on the table.

"Oh! Well… I didn't think you would find so much variety… do we even have something to cook in? Half of this stuff is what, boiled and or eaten raw?" She asked as she inspected the berries, tasting one that make her cough a bit at its bite.

"Those are wolf berries … they are a bit strong." He laughed at her rueful expression.

"Nice name for those."

Ion reached over to try one having never seen them before. His face scrunched up as the tartness hit his taste buds.

"Hope the rest tastes better than the berries."

"I saw an old pot somewhere here in the cupboard. I'll go wash it up and once we eat it's time to move out, that ship could come back or bring others."

They used their small fire only as long as necessary, hoping the smoke wouldn't give them away to any searchers. Astha was able to make a passable meal with what Abel gave her and to be honest she was pretty impressed that it was edible.

"We might survive now that I know you can cook." He grinned at Astha as he carefully quelled the fire and went about the small area to hide their tracks.

"You were doubting my skills?" she challenged.

"Perhaps a little," his grin widened impishly. "There was a reason I was paired with Tres often, he didn't need to eat and so far I haven't died from my cooking."

"I'm hoping we get picked up soon, I can't say I enjoyed that meal enough to repeat it."

"Haha yeah, I do understand the feeling."

"Do you know where we are at all?" Ion asked, peering at the evening sky.

"Not exactly, but our route and time of speedy disembarkment should have us not that terribly far from Über Berlin."

"That's roughly a three hour flight to the capital."

"So we should be home by morning?" Ion asked hopefully.

Abel chuckled and shrugged his shoulders. "Perhaps but I wouldn't hold my breath."

Ions expression fell and he nodded. "At least we got a hot meal."

Both methuselahs were packed and ready to leave, wearing their respective UV gear. Abel did a final sweep before leading them onwards to the rise he found earlier. They travelled in silence, letting Abel concentrate on the trail as much as having nothing to say. When they reached the small brook, everyone refilled their water bottles and had a long drink since it could be a while before more water was found.

It was just past dusk when they reached the ridge that Abel had seen earlier. A few rocks and old stumps scattered around the area, otherwise it was devoid of the heavy evergreen trees that covered the path up.

"This area should get signal, right?" Ion asked settling down on a stump and taking a quick drink.

"It's probably the best we can find without more climbing. If you look over there you can just see where the ship came down, its likely about ten twelve kilometers away." Abel pointed down to the south of the ridge.

Astha nodded and set about getting the device booted up.

Bleep! Bleep! Bleep! The device vibrated and lit up as it received signal and message alerts came in.

"I think we were missed." Abel commented as he leaned down beside Astha.

"Oh I'm sure we were very missed" she smirked as she opened the first message.

"Astharoshe, your ship has not made it to the dock on its scheduled time. Is everything alright?" Seth's worried voice came over the speaker.

"Astharoshe, please pick up, we can not get through to the ship and I'm very concerned."

"We have heard a report of a ship coming down on some open data lines. I need you to report back immediately!"

"I don't think I have ever heard the Empress sound that upset." Ion commented.

"Well, she has good reason, since she was monitoring our return quite closely." Astha replied as she set the device to connect for transmission.

"Empress, its Astharoshe, we are alive and well but the ship was shot down around the Uber Berlin area according to Abel. I am trying to get you our coordinates on the device now."

Astha's fingers quickly typed out the commands needed for the coordinates to appear on the screen, and sent the data to the Empress's recorder.

"Astharoshe! I am so glad to hear from you! We will send a ship out right away to get you, were there any injuries?" Seth's voice was brimming with relief.

"No we are all fine. Currently we are on a ridge, surrounded by trees, so I'm not sure where you can land a ship at."

"Don't worry about that, we don't have to land with the ship that is coming. Just stay where you are, it should not be more than a few hours… Abel, are you there?"

"Yes your Majesty."

"Good, please make sure you get on that ship as well."

Abel smiled and nodded. "Of course, your Majesty."

"I will see you all in a few hours then." The communication flickered and ended the transmission.

"Finally something is going right. This whole trip had problems it seems." Ion sighed and sprawled a little more on the stump he was using as a chair.

"That is true, right from our departure it has been issue after issue to get to the cardinals residence, then while there before we had to go to Londinium."

Abel furrowed his brows a little as he mulled over her words.

"How known was your trip to Caterina's?"

"Not at all, we went by cargo ship to Milan, and we were told to keep a low profile."

"The Orden has fingers in every organization it seems… and the comments from those guys last night makes me think this wasn't by chance."

They fell silent as the ominous feeling of his statement hung in the air.

Abel was starting to get tired, the concept wouldn't leave him that Cain or at least the Orden truly had gotten deeper into the Vatican and empire than previously thought. This meant that Seth, Caterina and Esther were all in danger since they were all powerful women who Cain knew were linked to him. A shudder slithered down his spine at the thought of Cain getting access to Caterina who was truly the most defenceless if found alone. Esther was experienced with thugs and other ugly walks of life, as well as truly being a blaze of life and vitality in comparison to Caterina who was slowly fading from some mysterious ailment she had not shared.

"Abel," Astha voice called him out of his darkening thoughts. "Why don't you rest some, I know you have been non stop since we landed, and it wasn't that long ago you were in a coma."

Her sensible suggestion brought waves of exhaustion to his body as he became aware of how tired he was.

He grunted a little and walked around the clearing to find a place that was less rocky to lay down on.

"Should we make a fire or something?" Ion asked as he watched Abel wander.

"I wouldn't till it's a lot closer to when the ship should be in the area."

"Oh… ok. So what should we do while you sleep?"

"Look at the stars?" He suggested as he finally cleared a spot not far from them and laid down his long jacket and dug out another from his bags to drape over himself.

"The Moons seem so bright tonight. The shield over the Empire never lets them shine so strong in the city." Ion mused aloud.

Abel shifted on his makeshift bed, his fingers laced behind his head so he could look up at the sky. Little did Ion or anyone really know that the smaller "moon" was a ship. Their ship. Where Lilith died by Cain's hand, the hot sting of betrayal and failure momentarily lancing though his mind.

"Do you learn much about the stars and space in the Empire?" He asked after a while.

"There's classes on constellations but not much."

"Ahh, that's too bad as space is really interesting in its cold and distant way." Abel mused, his voice deepening as his mind drifted to far away memories of space.

"You are just a priest, why would you know anything about space?"

A short laugh barked out of Abel. "You met Professor William, a mind that hungry wants all the information and he is just a priest. You shouldn't be judging books by their covers as the saying goes."

"Ah yeah I guess that makes sense, though the saying is one I've never heard it before."

"Really? Huh… it used to be a very common saying… Watch the stars quietly Ion, so I can rest a few minutes." Abel yawned and turned over to sleep.

Astha watched their exchange a bit bemused as Abel's answers exposed a little more about the man. When Abel ended their conversation she took the hint to walk away to let him rest. Taking out her spear, she moved a short distance away and worked on various drills, the repetitive motions soothing as much as making the time pass.

Once he found a comfortable way to lay, Abel fell into slumber. His mind was drifting from memories brought up about space, watching the planets as they traveled past them on the trip to and from Mars.

"Abel…" Liliths soft voice whispered into his mind. "Lilith?" Her lovely face appeared, looking concerned.

"You will need to feed us again soon, 02 won't stay quiet for long."

"Why the need for blood so soon? For many years I had no blood while I mourned your death. And in the last twenty it's been sporadic and far and few between. I refuse to become more of a monster!"

"Full fusion has taken the nanomachines out of their low powered state they had been in from the beginning. We can activate at a thought, generate electricity with a flick of your wrist and give you the wings at a lower percentage, the blood scythe is bigger and charged with power unlike before. It's an optimized system that needs the fuel regardless of being idle or not now. I need you to take care of me and 02 so that I can help you keep him at bay."

"Will the cravings be as bad as they were when I woke up?" He was afraid of the answer.

"Only if you get really hurt, but it was like that even before. If you don't let us get depleted it will stay as an ache before it becomes a need… I don't want to hurt your friends."

She reached out and took his hands, sending warmth to him in comfort. He squeezed her hands in acceptance.

"Will the pills that Astha takes, if Seth has similar, would they work?"

"I don't know… we need the virus and I don't know how well it takes to being dried, Seth will know and perhaps we need a bigger dose."

He nodded. "Here's hoping."

"Sleep now my dear. I'll keep watch."

Her image faded and blackness of sleep enfolded him completely.

It had been roughly an hour since Abel had laid down that Astha came back to sit near them. A few sips of water and she sat down on a few larger stones.

"Only a bit longer till the ship comes?" Ion asked, he had been dozing a bit till she came back.

"Perhaps an hour, soon we should make the fire I think. I'll get a spot ready if you go grab deadfall."

He nodded and went to his task.

Abel hadn't moved much in his sleep. She could hear his deep relaxed breaths as she cleared a spot and made a ring of rocks for the fire. Debating if she should wake him she wandered around gathering smaller sticks and such.

"Astharoshe!" Ion called from the trees. "Come quick!"

She grabbed her spear and ran to where he sounded to be at.

"What is it Ion?"

He pointed down the valley to where the small shack they had stayed in was at… it was up in flames.

"That just happened while I was out here… do you think those guys followed us?"

"Or they got some help from that ship Abel saw earlier."

"Do we still make a fire?"

"I'll see if I can contact the ship… let them know we are not alone.


	9. What is Hidden

A very tall man in a black uniform with a red armband stood with looking out over a the factory floor from the glassed in office. His long black hair cascaded down his back to end near his hips framed his jet black eyes were coolly assessing the scene below in the factory. A slender cigarillo held lightly to his lips while his coldly beautiful face showed a neutral expression. The undead methuselah soldiers - autojägers were being outfitted and sorted into groups. Soon they would be sent out on patrols as this base was slowly being retrofitted to their needs. Behind him, a slight sloshing sound could be heard from the large glass tank filled with an opaque black liquid.

"Issak, I'm bored of being in here. How much longer must I stay?"

Issak sighed softly, smoke tendrils spiralled lazily around him.

"Another six hours and you will be back to full strength. Your latest altercation with 02 took a lot out of your system Mein Herr."

"That feels like it will be forever!"

"With your lifespan that seems a bit dramatic."

"Oh, well.. yeah perhaps... but still time moves so slow in here… Have we heard anything about what 02 is doing?"

"He seems to have boarded a ship and left Albion. I have men stationed around to shoot down any ships on route to the Empire as it is likely he is trying to get to 03." He paused to take another drag on his smoke. "My hope is that with him being fully fused to the crusnik, 02 will take over the host body and thus we will only have to look for the destruction."

"Won't that make it harder to capture him?"

"Once you starve a beast it is always hungry. 02 will be easy to coax in and to our side with the right bait." He flicked a few ashes from his smoke before turning around to walk over to the tank.

"I don't think Esther would be happy if we used her. We only just gave her that lovely crown and kingdom to figure out."

"No, the young queen is not quite the right person… I was thinking perhaps the cardinal would be good, or the professor might be entertaining."

"Have I met them yet?"

"No, Mein Herr but you will."

"Soon?"

"That depends on 02. We want that alliance between Cardinal Caterina and the Empire to have enough time to ripen so that the inevitable betrayal is that much sweeter, but if 02 proves troublesome it will still be a simple thing to fan the flames needed to have the Vatican attack the Empire."

"Right. I'm so glad I have you around Issak, keeping things in order."A slight smile touches the cool features. "I live to serve."

Astha ran back to where Abel was sleeping. She reached out to grab his shoulder as she had done on the ship, but stopped just before she touched him, remembering how he woke up swinging. He had been an agent for the cardinal and even though he was quiet man, he knew what danger was and had the reflexes for it. Bracing herself she carefully shook his shoulder.

"Abel! We have trouble coming!" She urged him.

Abel's blue eyes opened in unfocused confusion at the jostling of her shaking him awake. Slowly they zeroed in on her golden eyes and blinked a few more times as he got his bearings.

"Trouble?" His groggy voice was low and thick as he seemed to be dragging himself out of slumber.

"Yes, it looks like they found the shack and torched it."

He sat up and looked around at the moonlit clearing."Torched it? How soon till Se… err the ship gets here?"

"Not long, maybe another hour if that. I'll contact them shortly. But if those terrans are here they might have the cannon that brought us down. We need to stop them before our ticket out of here is shot."

He sighed and got up, packing up his extra coat and getting out his gun and bullets."There isn't much choice is there? We will have Ion stay up top here, you and I can deal with these guys easy enough."

She nodded, looking back at where Ion was waiting for further instruction, she waved him over.

"I could help, I'm not an child." Ion groused when they told him to wait with the equipment.

"I've worked with Astha before and you, from my experience like to charge ahead without thinking, a failing of all youth I'm afraid." Abel quietly said to unruffled the young methuselah's feathers.

"I… well.. you're right I guess. I'll stay here and wait for the sign from either you or the ship."

Abel nodded affirmation and a quick glance at Astha to see how communication with the ship was going.

"There's interference I can't get through to the ship… we need to be quick Nightroad." She said as she set the communicator down and grabbed her spear. He nodded, rolled his shoulders a little and walked off towards the path, Astha following close behind.

The glow of the burning shack was dying down some, and while it lit up the area, not much could be seen of the men.

"We will go down to near that small brook, its less than halfway to the shack and if I remember right would be a good place to stage an ambush. Are you strong enough to still have haste?" He looked towards her, eyebrow raised.

"Of course I do...Are we racing down there?"

"Heh, no not racing, I have a different idea, as I want to question one of them. If you haste and knock all but one out then we can ask him a few quick questions before taking him out too."

She nodded in understanding, "I will likely do more than knock them over… these are just terrans." she replied while adjusting her over coat and slinging her spear across her back.

"It is what it may be, alive they might give us away, dead it's bodies that leave a trail…" he took a deep breathe and then started down the path in a jog being mindful of the rough terrain.

It didn't take long to reach the brook, moonlight was just enough to allow decent navigation of the rocky forest floor before the canopy blocked most of the light. Abel set his hand back and low to alert Astha to slow down, she dutifully stopped and unhooked her spear, as Abel drew his old style colt revolver.

Further down the path was the occasional bluish beam of a flashlight and they could hear the thrashing of several people walking through the underbrush.

Abel nodded at Astha to go over behind a larger spruce tree just up from the brook, he moved forward and hopped over the brook going slightly downhill from where she was hidden. He knelt down and grabbed a small fist sized rock, hefted it a few times to gauge its weight before standing up again. It wasn't long before a flash of light could be seen down the path. Soon the beams of the flashlights was getting more consistent, and snippets of speech could be heard now, four male voices were discernible.

Abel waited till he could see them clearly before he waved at Astha to alert her. Seeing her nod, he stepped out and threw the rock at the men. It landed just past them to their left. Flashlights swirled as they looked at where the noise came from.

Astha took advantage of the distraction and darted towards them with the blinding speed of haste. Using the butt of her spear she rammed it into the first ones sternum, knocking him over and down. She landed and sidestepped to jump at the second man, aiming for his head, and with the momentum the impact was likely lethal. She remembered Abel wanting one left standing so she dodged the third and went for the fourth. He had seen the others drop and braced his arms in front of him with a yell of surprise. Astha slammed into him, twisting her body between his hands and using her shoulder to drive his body into the ground hard. She pressed her boot into his throat as she stood up, then using the butt of the spear, smashed it against his temple to either knock him unconscious or dead, both outcomes were good enough for her.

As Astha was taking the men down, Abel hurried out and stopped just before the group, gun cocked and pointed at the last man standing. The beam of his flashlight illuminated Abel's body, the slim dark figure, pale skin and silver hair. Momentarily a flash of red eyes reflected back at the man as he stared down the barrel of the gun. Astha stood behind the man and pressed the tip of her spear between his shoulder blades.

"Go ahead and shoot, filthy vampire bitch!"Astha's eyes widened slightly and she pushed the spear harder into his back.

"That's not the smartest thing I've ever heard." Abel commented, walking closer. The man was thick, burly build and swarthy complexion. His clothes were of a common labourer and no distinctive marking was seen, all Abel could find of any note was a simple gold wedding band.

"Who are you, why are you following us?" Abel asked keeping his voice low and even.

"I'm not telling you anything! You killed the other guys and you're just going to kill me anyway. All you damned vampires want to do is kill."

"Were you hired to track newcomers?" Abel continued ignoring the man's refusal to answer.

"Fuck you! Like I said I'm not telling you anything!"

Abel lowered his gun and looked at Astha. She shrugged her shoulders.

"Well… Given your over abundance of help, do you wish for death? Your wife will become a widow, your children fatherless. Is whoever hired you worth more than your family?" Abel hoped appealing to the man's family needs would help.

The man shifted his feet a little, some of the fight leaving him."We were to shoot and bring back any that survived the crash. They told us they would be fucking vampires and he was bloody right." He moved to shrug off the spear between his shoulder but Astha kept the point jabbed in the meaty area beside his spine.

"Who wants to shoot down the ships?"

"He never said his name. Some skinny kid with a funny accent that gives you the heebie jeebies. They paid us well in advance and told us we can take whatever we can from the ships. My wife is sick, I need the money to get her more help… I have a number to contact him with but I won't grab it with her pushing that thing in my back."

Abel looked again at Astha and nodded his head, she stepped back a half step to take the pressure off the man.

The man bowed his back to reach inside his coat, his hand rifling around inner pockets. In the relief of tension on Abel and Astha's part, he pulled out his gun instead.

Abel's eyes widened moments before the bullet went into his chest.

Astha activated her spear instantly and the energy bolt killed the man mere seconds later.

"Abel!" She raced over to him as he doubled over.

He coughed a few times, a bit of blood dripping on the ground. Dropping his gun he gathered his sleeve to press on the wound.

"What can I do?!" Astha asked, panic strong in her voice.

"Just… give… me a moment… stay back please Astha." He panted.

She knelt down watching him worriedly. She heard him taking in a few deep shuddering breaths before he straightened up.

"Ok. I'm alright now… did you uh… kill the other men? Or will they wake up?" He moved slowly to pick up his gun and holster it.

"Wake up?... Oh! I'll check." She moved over the other three prone forms, checking for signs of life.

They had all died either from impact or internal bleeding."Terrans are so fragile, I forget how it was for us before our change happens…" she paused and studied him for a moment. "Where did you get hit? How badly are you injured? Did the bullet go through?"

Abel shrugged his shoulder a little, a bit like a testing motion to see how he was. "It missed vitals and feels like it went through. I'll be ok, it's not the first time I've been shot."

"Can I wrap it for you? It's still a good hike up to the clearing and no need to bleed out on the way up."

"No, Astha don't touch me right now… I heal pretty quickly and it's just best for both of us if you aren't too close to me."

She furrowed her brows in frustration."Why can't I be near you? That makes no sense!"

Abel acted like he didn't hear her, looking around at the brush and then at the bodies. "We will have to move these off the trail… two could go behind that tree there, the others... there's a bit of a dip beside this tree." He pointed at the spots.

Astha huffed but went over to drag bodies, as Abel did the same. "You were just shot, what are you doing?!"

"Helping."

"Blood loss is a problem for most people."

"I know. I'm using the good arm, honest."

"Nightroad!" She growled and hefted the last body to the backside of the tree.

"This won't keep the animals from the bodies… but it should disrupt anyone looking for us a day or two."

"Let's get back to Ion. The ship should be here any time now." Astha pressed.

He nodded and turned to go back up the path, feeling Astha's glare as strongly as the bullet hole his body had already closed and cleaned up, absorbing all the spilled blood.

They had walked a good portion of the path in silence before Astha couldn't contain herself.

"That was pretty dumb to lower your gun like that, what do they teach you at the Vatican?"

Abel winced at her comment. "I guess I'm a bit out of practice, Tres would have given some calculations on how fast he could shoot if the guy tried to draw a weapon. I'm always let down on how dedicated people are to money."

"Well, don't do that again, you're lucky he didn't hit any vital, if a bit unused like your head." She scolded, "as soon as we get on the ship you need medical attention, no one just heals up from a bullet." She grumbled as she walked behind his tall form, eyeing his movements for pain.

"I will be fine Astha, stop worrying about me. I'm flattered that you are so concerned… perhaps I've grown on you?" He teased.

"Grown on me?!" She growled and reached out, grabbing his coat by the collar and twisting him around, pushing his back to a tree. His surprised blue eyes met her angry gold ones.

"A- Astha?!" He stuttered."Shut your mouth a moment Nightroad. I'm tired of you dodging my questions, and cold shoulder-ing me. You did it at Albion, when we got out of the ship and now again after being shot, I can't ignore it any longer. What is going on with you? Why won't you tell me anything? I remember you were hurt at Venice, but as soon as we talked you got up and acted like nothing had happened. Now you're doing it again after a close range bullet. You said the wings were an augmentation…" As she spoke she slammed him against the tree with each question. Her brows furrowed a bit as she looked at his coat where he was shot. "Where's the blood? I saw you get shot and blood splattered… even your sleeve is clean all that's left are the burn marks…" her grip lessened as her eyes snapped up to his. "and you can't tell me this is another augmentation from the Vatican."

The surprise faded from his eyes, replaced with sad apology."I was hoping this conversation would hold off till we were in the Empire… it's the mark of my sins...You and I have more in common than we have with terrans… please Astha let me tell you this when we are back in the Empire." She noticed as he spoke the feeling of static charge in the air, his skin was getting more pale, loose hairs were floating slightly about his head and his voice was deeper, raspy even.

"More in common with me than with terrans? But you're a Terran... right?"

Abel brought his arm up to push her away from him, things were getting too intense both within and without his body. 02 was struggling against Lilith, pushing to activate without commands. The nanomachines were buzzing in his veins at the proximity of Astha's sweet blood.

"Not as much as I used to be." He said softly, sadly.

She noticed his want for space but felt she was close to finally getting an answer out of him, that she braced against him. Looking at his face she noticed he was clenching his teeth, but it looked odd and as her eyes travelled up to his, she was met with blue that fading into a predatory red. Her stomach suddenly went to lead as the red became more dominant.

"Astha, before I harm you… move away…" he whispered, pleading.

Her eyes ripped away from his and when he spoke she glimpsed behind his lips, pointed teeth that should have been the blunt rectangular of a human. A shocked gasp escaped her as she quickly stepped back. She winced as an arc of electricity jumped from his arm to her shoulder, the spidery blast visible momentarily.

"Wha...what are you?"

She watched him close his eyes and take several deep breaths, visibly calming himself down.When he looked back up all signs of the predatory version were missing, replaced with his wintery blue eyes that carried that deep sadness she had only glimpsed before.

"I will explain later, please Astha, the ship is coming if not already landed… I promise we will talk about this again just… not here, not like this."

She looked up at the sky, seeing that some time had passed and he was likely right, this was not the place nor the time.

"Am I safe with you?"

"Yes, just don't get so close… it makes things rough for me."

"You will tell me everything? I need to know."

"You will know soon enough… for better or worse. We are tovarish right?" He stepped past her and started running up the path, to escape her or reach the clearing she couldn't tell.

Astha took a few deep breaths as she watched him leave, feeling confused and wondering if her hot headedness had opened up something best left alone. But there was no going back now, the image of red eyes and black wings flashed in her mind, giving her a cold shiver, soon she would have answers. A quick mental shake and she hurried after him.


	10. Tea Service

Authors Note* sorry for the horrible formatting I only noticed it tonight and have fixed the earlier chapters from being wall of text. This is all being written on my phone. Thanks for your support!*

Abel reached the clearing a bit before Astha, wanting to avoid her just a little longer. His hands shook slightly as he pulled his coat a bit tighter around his frame, the bullet hole being obscured by a fold of fabric. When Lilith said that the crusnik would demand feeding, she wasn't joking, he now questioned the whole idea of going to the Empire being surrounded by methuselah at every turn.

He looked back to see Astha had slowed down to a walk, likely still trying to figure out what she had seen… his heart felt heavy as he envisioned the possible outcomes of the dreaded talk. Would she attack, run away or accept him? So far it seemed she wasn't running away quite yet so perhaps, perhaps it was going to be ok.

"Nightroad!" Ion called out from the top of the clearing. He was waving his arm trying to catch Abel's attention.

Abel shook his head and quickly moved up to where Ion was, looking to see if the ship was close.

"Where's Astharoshe? Was there trouble? I knew you should have let me help!"

"She's just a few minutes behind me, relax Ion."

"Oh… did you stop those guys?"

"There were four of them but Astha took care of it. I wasn't able to find out much information though, unfortunately. Did you make contact with the ship?"

"Yes! They should be visible anytime now. They were able to get a full lock on to our location from the communicator." Ion turned around looking up at the sky.

Abel looked up as well, searching the just barely dawn sky until he saw the slightly matte metal form of the ship, a small vessel built for speed and stealth.

"There it is!" He pointed it out to Ion.

"Where can they land?" Astha asked as she walked up, catching the last bit of their conversation.

Abel dropped his arm immediately and stood back a little, not quite looking at her.

"Likely anywhere it's a small ship." He commented and then knelt down to grab his bag as much as to hide his discomfort.

"That's a relief. Soon we will be back home, I don't think I've ever been this happy to see a ship." Ion shuffled around as he watched the ship approach.

Astha's gaze drifted over Abel several times, not quite sure how to handle the sudden awkwardness between them.

Within ten minutes or so the ship was lowering to land nearby, the early dawn light casting a slightly pink hue to everything. Ion, Astha and Abel had their packs ready and were waiting the moment they could board the ship. Once the landing feet settled on the ground the passenger door opened and a small loading ramp slid out, they could see in the doorway a female form that was slight in stature stood. Abel sighed in relief as he recognized Seth instantly, and quickly walked up the ramp.

"Abel!" Her whole face lit up as she watched him come up the ramp, as soon as he was in the cabin, she wrapped her arms around his middle. "I was so worried when I heard you were badly injured." She hugged him a little tighter when his hands rested between her shoulder blades as he returned her gesture, before letting go and looking up at his face.

"Heh, well it was the most hurt I've ever been I believe… but I'm here and in one piece again so that's always a good thing!" He replied with a bit of a smile.

Seth's petite face scrunched up a little, "in one piece again?"

"Ah well… I kinda lost my head when He showed up I guess you could say."

She slowly blinked and stared at him, "you fought him already?!"

"Yes, but I didn't exactly defeat him as he escaped when I started to get the upper hand." Frustration was easy to hear in his soft voice.

"You really didn't waste any time since you left if you encountered him so quickly."

"It was a chance meeting, caught me off guard actually. I had no idea he had been helping Esther in Londinium and even before that, his butler Issack helped her in Istvan."

"Very interesting… but we can talk more later, best get back to the Empire right away."

"Right, uh.. did you happen to bring any food with you?"

"Oh, I guess you guys didn't exactly pack for camping. I'll see what I can find to hold you over till we get back." She winked at him.

Ion and Astha walked in, setting their bags down and waiting to greet Seth. When she turned to them, they both gave her a semi formal bow. Abel had forgotten they knew the Empress's true face.Seth waved them off "I'm not in my state clothes, please relax, it's been a very busy trip for you both and I want the detailed reports tomorrow morning."Abel took a seat a bit away from the other two, settling in for the ships take off. Seth disappeared for a few moments and came back with a basket filled with cookies, buns, fruit and some water.

"Hope this will tide you guys over, we left so quickly that this is just what was on hand." She set it down on the open seat between Abel and Ion, Astha sat a bit further away.

"Thank you very much!" Ion bowed his head respectfully before grabbing an apple. Abel smiled at Seth and grabbed a few things as well. She smiled happily as the boys ate the food quickly, but noticed that Astharoshe was being a bit more reserved than normal. She grabbed two buns and moved over beside the tall woman.

"I bet it's been a bit rough having to keep those two in line." Seth cheerfully said as she handed Astha a bun.

The woman's amber eyes looked up and were a bit startled initially, her ivory hair was tousled and knotted mixing the red strip into a pinkish hue with the ivory. It wasn't normal to see her so out of sorts.

"It's ok Astharoshe, I'm not the Empress right now, I'm just Seth, happy to have some friends back from a long trip." She smiled reassuringly.

Astha let out a small sign and returned her smile as she took the bun.

"Thank you, your.. Seth. And yes, it has been an experience since we left the Empire." She paused and looked over at the silver haired man. "Abel… should get some medical attention. He took a bullet a little while ago and … well said he was ok but I don't agree."

"Oh! Ok, well he's lucky that I know a few things about patching people back up. Thank you for letting me know." Seth stood up to go to Abel.

"Wait," Astha reached out and rested a hand on her arm. "I'm not convinced that you will be safe…"

"Nonsense, Astharoshe. Abel would never hurt me. Why would you be worried?"

"He's not quite the same after his injury I think." Astha replied sounding unsure.

"I'll be fine, most men don't like needles so he will have to on good manners." She grinned and patted at her hand before going to Abel.

"Come with me, you need some help apparently." She looked at him expectantly.

Abel's surprised eyes met hers and he hurriedly stuffed the rest of his snack in his mouth. He looked quickly at Astha, who looked back at him a bit guilty. He sighed a little and got up to follow Seth.

He followed her to a smaller room in the ship, a first aid station with a glass cabinet of various bandages and vials. She motioned for him to sit again.

"While we both know a gunshot is nothing for our systems, Astharoshe is concerned for you… and for my welfare. So what happened?"

"Ah… yeah. I've been having trouble with the crusnik since full fusion… and her parachute failed when we jumped out of the other ship so I activated to slow her fall."

Seth interrupted him, grabbing his jacket lapels."Full fusion?! But you know what that did to Cain, why would you ever have gone to that? How?!" She stood before him, disbelief slowly being replaced with concern on her delicate youthful features.

"Caterina had them give me the rest of Lilith's nanomachines after He blew my head off… I came back when he tried to hurt Esther as she was protecting my coffin. It's… hard to explain but I awoke fighting him and was fully fused… it was primal, like I was someone else for a little while…thank god for Esther or I'm sure I would have been lost… I did find out that Liliths nanomachines have some essence of her, having absorbed a bit of her presence that they are able to talk to me occasionally."

"Oh my…they didn't say how badly you were hurt… and you came back from that?! Are you... still you?" She looked into his eyes intently, searching for differences.

"I am, at least as far as I know. When 02 tries to grab control, Lilith helps me… but I'm not stable, and I don't feed enough for the increased capacity. I'm worried now that I won't be safe at the Empire."

Understanding shone in her eyes and she reached out to hug his neck. His long hair was a mess, half of it was out of the ponytail, his grey greatcoat was rumpled and she could see the bullet hole out the back. She straightened up and smiled reassuringly.

"Oh Abel I can't imagine what you've been through… medically amazing but terrifying at the same time. Don't worry about Astharoshe, is a strong woman and if she hasn't ran away yet, she won't."

"I'm hoping so… she's seen enough that I have to tell her the whole story if we are to continue…. how do you deal with the cravings?"

"I have a special account set up though our blood banks, I need so little that it is super easy to have a supply."

"No pill version like the human blood?"

"No… the nanomachines can't process it dried unfortunately." She watched him slump a little at the news.

"How often do you need to... replenish?" Abel swallowed as he felt the nanomachines buzz at the thought of feeding. He started to fidget with his coat sleeves to distract himself a bit.

"Maybe once every twelve weeks? I activate so seldom that it's mainly a dormant system really, just I don't feel well if I go too long. And I only need an ounce or so. It has been a long time since I've gone more than low level activation."

He sighed, feeling every bit repulsed by the monster within him as it was reacting to the conversation.

"I need to uh… eat more often and more volume than that now. Lilith said that the system is optimized now and I can't let it starve anymore. I fed twice last week and could easily take in more, especially after the gunshot and little food the last twenty four hours. Astha got a little frustrated with me and when she was grilling me, I couldn't keeping it from displaying. They activate on their own to a degree still but thankfully not like they did when I woke up last week."

Seth's eyebrows shot up in surprise as she listened to him."Wow! That is some high demand for the system. Well, we can fill you up with what food I brought and when we land sort out some supply to take you down to a manageable level."

"I'd really like some tea… with sugar if that's possible."

"I've seen your cup, that is more like having tea with your sugar."

He shrugged. "It works for me."

She nodded and moved for him to take off his coat.

"We can set the duchess's mind at ease if you let me patch you up a little."

He chuckled and did as she bid, removing his coat and letting her put some strong smelling salve on his shoulder.

"Ugh that stuff is strong."

"Oh but it works wonderfully! Took me a while in my lab to come up with it." She winked and handed him back his coat as she cleaned up.

He paused for a moment when he saw his appearance in the small mirror. He could see he had lost even more weight, his hair was a wild mess and his pale complexion was greyer than normal. "My god! I look a fright!" He muttered as he redid his pony tail and settled his glasses back on his nose.

"It's only another hour to get back home. I have a room set for you to be in without the court knowing you're here. After that we will figure out what needs to be done."

"I'm not staying in the Empire Seth, not till I know he's truly gone."

Her face fell for a moment before she looked back up at him. "We will see how things go, I've been around a while and learned a few things you know. Now go back to the cabin, I'll have your tea ready in a blink."

He smirked and nodded before returning to the cabin with Ion and Astha, his coat draped over his arm and the strong aroma of the salve cloaking him.

"Oh wow!" Ion looked at Abel, blinking rapidly as the pungent eucalyptus smell took over the room.

"Your sense of smell will be gone in a few moments, believe me." Abel grinned a little, reaching his seat and laying his coat down beside him.

"I left you a few cookies, since you are such a big eater." Ion pushed the basket closer to Abel.

"Thanks Ion." Abel smiled and took the offered cookies, waiting for the tea to come.

Astha watched him walk in and settle into his chair. The aroma of the salve made her eyes water slightly, but that just meant there was sign of treatment. He had fixed his hair a bit, his glasses were back on and he seemed a little more like his old self, the klutzy priest she knew before his injury. In a little while she could go home, get a good sleep and perhaps what she had seen was just her mind getting away with her.

She sighed a little, releasing some of the tension she was holding while Abel was with Seth, the smell of the salve assaulting her senses anew with the deep breath, rudely.

Seth came in with the tea and a large bowl of sugar, which Abel happily heaped thirteen spoonfuls into his now almost overflowing cup of tea.

"It's almost a waste to give you the tea, if the sugar is over half the cup." She teased.

"Mmmm I don't do every cup this way, just the first one since then I don't need to add more sugar."

Seth gave a little snort and set out two more cups for Ion and Astha.

"We should be landing in a little bit. Once down I'll have a guard give you a lift to your homes. Tomorrow after a good sleep and hearty breakfast Astharoshe can meet me at the palace commons area. Ion, your grandmother is anxiously awaiting your arrival so I likely won't see you till later in the day."

They both nodded in acknowledgment.

"And Abel?" Astha asked.

"I have a room for few days set aside till we sort something out. It'll work out, relax." Seth smiled and waved as she left the cabin.

Abel watched the exchange quietly as he enjoyed his tea, the sugar hit placating the crusnik a little after its eagerness earlier. His mind drifted a bit as he wondered if Caterina or William had gotten any more leads on Cain. Obviously Cain was looking for him, given what he learned from the man earlier. Who else would be looking for ships carrying methuselah? Once the issue with feeding this damned monster was solved he was going back in the field to find Cain. Abel's eyes lingered over Astha for a moment, wondering if she would insist on travelling with him, once she knew his dark truth. She looked tired, the challenging spark was dull in her eyes when they locked for an instant before dropping back to her tea.

Abel looked down into his tea as well, studying his hands. They were long and lean, dwarfing the cup a bit as it was settled between his palms. Hands that had hurt more than had helped, yet a few still people trusted him, Esther with her endlessly blue eyes who stood by him once she had seen the beast. Caterina and William who utilized his skills as much as helped him survive once he had left Lilith's tomb. Being in AX brought him back to the world of the living, a way to pay for his sins against mankind. The crusnik that took over Cain needed to be stopped, the orden had to be stopped before wars broke out again in this vision of fire to consume them all. Tea spilled over into his hands as he realized he had gripped the cup tightly while lost in thought. He set the cup down to wipe off the tea when he noticed oddly now that he wasn't wearing gloves like he did while he was a priest.

"It's been so busy since the coronation that I never even got my gloves back on."

Ion looked at him then at his hands."It has been a bit constant," Ion admitted, then stretched. "I can't wait to sleep in my own bed."

"I'm looking forward to a soak in my bathhouse till my bones melt." Astha added, yawning and rubbing her eyes. The ship shifted a little as it shifted to the landing sequence.

Abel smiled at them both, endearing in their shared exhaustion. "It's a well deserved rest I would say."


	11. Seth’s Place

A/n - this has been the hardest chapter to write!

Many thanks to all who have been reading the story, on A03 I've reached over 200 hits and on the comments have been a help to keep going. Please enjoy :)

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The filtered light of the Empire greeted them as they filed out of the ship, the soothing warmth welcoming. As promised there was a palace car waiting to take Ion and Astha home.

"Rest well you two!" Abel cheerfully waved.

"See you in a few days Nightroad." Ion grinned and jogged over to the car.

Astha looked at him for a long moment, before bowing to Seth. "I'll be back this afternoon to report, your Majesty."

"Alright, Astharoshe, if you wish." Seth nodded before she started walking towards the cars.

Abel stood a moment longer watching Astha, concern worrying his brow until their gazes locked briefly and she gave him a slight smile.

"Till later, Nightroad." She turned away to join Ion in the car.

"Now, we need to get you in the Palace and in a room to recover in. I've already let Baybars know you are coming and he's one of my most trusted guards. You're under my orders to sleep and eat as much as you can till this evening when we can talk." Seth sat beside Abel in the car, her tone very serious.

"You've gotten bossy in your old age." He grinned and shifted back to avoid her punch to the shoulder.

"As Empress it's my right." She smirked.

"Of course your Imperial Highness." That got him a stern look.

"Ok, ok I'll stop. I will rest a bit and eat all the food you send me. Tonight we need to figure out what I need to get stabilized."

"You only just got here Abel… can't you stay a little before you leave again?"

"I don't think I will have a choice… I have to find Him before something else happens." Abel finished quietly, looking down at his hands.

"Give me a week?"

"I'm making no promises Seth. If I can't keep the monster under wraps here I'll leave to avoid any bloodshed."

"I understand. We can fix you, I know it."

He smiled warmly at her firm resolve.

"So… are you still a priest? Or a free agent?"

Abel furrowed his brow, "While I can't return to the Vatican because several of the inquisition saw my body, Caterina did give me a set of my robes as a just in case. So yes… I'm still a priest."

"That helps then as those who met you before will remember you as Father Nightroad."

He nodded, his features smoothing out as he relaxed.

"Thanks, I'm just not quite ready to give up the church, it has been a home of sorts for the last while."

Within minutes they reached the palace side gates to find Baybars was waiting for them patiently within the entranceway.

"Ah yes, the priest, I remember you now." His baritone voice so deep it was almost hard to understand.

Abel smiled at the imposing captain of the guard. The man was of the few who were taller than Abel, with an impressive breath of shoulder and obviously muscular build. He wore the rich burgundy colours of the yencei, trimmed with extra gold braid displaying his status as captain. His complexion was quite dark, swarthy and strong featured. Long thick dreadlocks draped around him adding to his impressive presence.

"Hello, Sir."

"Good morning Baybars, as per our earlier chat, Father Nightroad is staying in the left wing of the guest quarters. I won't need to see him till late evening when he's rested." Seth spoke as they walked along the hallway.

"That is easy enough to arrange."

"While it is a little out of the norm, could you be his guard for the time he's here."

"Are you expecting trouble?" Baybars raised an eyebrow, puzzled.

"While it's fairly unknown yet that he is here and should be safe in our lands, I can't ignore the fact that their ship was shot down because it was Empire bound."

Baybars nodded, his long dreadlocks momentarily obscuring his face.

"It will be so."

"Great! I will see you both later this evening. Rest up Abel." She waved at them both and turned away to go down a different hallway.

Baybars motioned for Abel to follow him and set off at a steady long strided walk. Abel easily kept up, enjoying the chance to walk with someone as long legged as he. After many hallways and doors they arrived at his room.

"You will find food and drink inside already, please rest up as the Empress requests." Baybars bid his adieu, leaving Abel at the door.

Inside was a well stocked dinner cart with a variety of foods and drinks, Abel felt a bit spoiled by the extravagance, having been a poor priest with only four dinars in his pocket the last decade. Setting down his bag, he helped himself to a plate of food and looked around. The room was quaintly furnished with a bed, side tables, a small desk and a full bathroom which was more than adequate for him. The windows were curtained shut to allow full darkness to the occupant, a great perk to allow him to sleep given it was already late morning.

"Now to shower and sleep like the truly dead," he mused aloud once finished his meal. He set aside his clothes, carefully gathering up Lilith's cross, momentarily pressing it to his forehead before laying it on the bedside table.

"Really things could have gone much worse out there." He muttered before going in for a quick shower.

The water soothed some of the tension out of his lanky body, and it was all he could do to dry off enough to pull on some pajamas and crawl into bed. Exhaustion hit him like a ton of bricks as he fell headlong into slumber.

Late afternoon found Astharoshe Asran, Marquis of Kiev and Duchess of Odessa reporting everything that had occurred on the original mission to the Empress, Augusta Vradica. Gone was the somewhat private companionship of early morning and in its place was the cool formality that was the core structure of the Empire.

"In conclusion, Cardinal Caterina drove a hard bargain but in the end the main goals expressed were met, Your Imperial Majesty. Starting later next week the first shipment of textiles should be met at our western border with an exchange of barrels of wine coming from her estate in Milan. Also Abel Nightroad has joined us for assistance as requested." Astha bowed her head forward and brought her open hand across her body to above her heart, signalling the end of her report.

She was resplendent in her blue jewel toned formal uniform, edged with white, silver and red accents. White thigh high boots, dark red leggings, elbow length gloves, her bolero jacket fit snugly over her strong shoulders, the corset dress hugging her shapely body with an attractive flare of a short skirt at her hips. Her ivory hair had regained its faint illuminating shine and body that had been lost in the rigours of the forest barely thirty six hours ago. The trademark red was boldly on display across her brow, no longer a pinky mix in tousled tangled hair. This was what Astharoshe Asran was supposed to look like, a woman with confidence and strength of character. Seth smiled as she accepted the signed papers from Astharoshe.

"I thank you for your service Duchess. Let us hope this new venture proves fruitful for us both. Please await me in the east garden for some further discussion." The Empress nodded towards Astharoshe in dismissal.

The formal portion of the trip had been discussed and would have the council happy with the outcome. Seth wanted to know more about what happened in Londinium, and later between her brother and Astharoshe. She closed up the last few books on her desk and set down her large imperial hat.

She heard a light knocking from the doorway. She looked up to see Baybars walking into the room, his dark swarthy complexion and long black dreadlocks giving him the slight appearance of the pirates of antiquity.

"Is everything alright?"

"Yes...mostly." The large man shifted his weight back and forth on his feet for a moment before answering further.

"Call me crazy, but after finding out about the Baron of Luxor's ability with fire I refuse to put odd occurrences aside... and since Father Nightroad came in this morning, the cleaning staff have notified me of several random exploded lights while working in the rooms along that wing." He shifted his feet again.

"Hmm… that is a bit odd. Have maintenance check the circuitry as it could just be a fluke?" He nodded, bowing respectfully before leaving.

Seth shook her head, as she slowly walked out of the office and to the garden where Astharoshe waited. In 800 years her nanomachines had never activated uninitiated before. Was the veil between the two entities so thin that in the oblivion of sleep his electrical affinity affects his surroundings without his knowledge? She worried about his instability with the full fusion, since it was not a real success with Cain, the crusnik having taken over their brother's consciousness and ending with terrible results... With Abel would it just be a matter of time before 02 takes over as well? She shuddered to think of that reality.

The friendly chitter of a small squirrel broke her away from her heavy thoughts.

"Oh, hello there Abel." She greeted the little light grey squirrel warmly. It bobbed and came up to her foot, sniffing and moving in the jerky fashion of the small creatures.

"Abel?" Astharoshe questioning voice carried over the few shrubs that provided the privacy the garden gave from the palace entrance.

"Oh, sorry, wrong Abel. My little squirrel friend here was given the same name since they are both silver haired." Seth chuckled a little as the squirrel ran ahead to the benches and climbed up along to perch along the back.

Astha was sitting comfortably on a white cushioned garden bench in the cooling evening air when Seth walked around the shrubs, she stood again and bowed to her Empress.

Seth smiled and waved her to sit. "This is informal, please Astharoshe relax a little as we have a fair bit to talk about."

Astha nodded and sat back down, a bit of a cautious expression on her face.

"Was the report not complete?"

"Oh no, it was fine and I'll go through the papers later, I just want to know more about what happened in Londinium." Seth sat on a small bench across from Astha.

"Before I start, can I ask you a question?"

"Of course!"

"If I may be so bold…Why bring Abel back here?" A bit of surprise fluttered across Seth's features at Astha's question. "I know it sounds a little weird coming from me, given I have taken him as my tovarish but... Why the rush and extra concern? What do you feel in regards to him? Again, my apologies if I have crossed you."

Astha looked at the Empress's forever youthful face, her dark hair in a pixie cut fluffed around her cheekbones, large luminous emerald green eyes and a pale pink lips. The expression went from warm to contemplative, her eyes focusing inward more so than at her surroundings. When she focused back on Astha the warmth had returned.

"It is alright, Astharoshe, your mind is why you have the job you do. Abel helped a lot in his last visit here and in that short time we found a very comfortable friendship. He reminds me very much of someone from my past and I'm sure some of that bleeds over. In regards to the rush to get him here… I decided that since we were requesting his return already I felt it was best he recovered here as soon as possible. Then with the crash which was upsetting to say the least, considering I had Ion and you aboard as well." She paused for a moment. "Abel is a trustworthy man, past the foolish facade and glasses is a brilliant mind, with a softness I can see in how he truly cares about people. I have been around long enough to know it when I see it."

Astha nodded, feeling a bit improper having questioned her Empress. "It helps me a lot to hear your view of him… that we do see some of the same traits. Again I apologize for my boldness."

Seth waved her off and reached over to pet the little squirrel as he moved over to her lap.

"Now, what exactly do you want to know about the rest of the trip?"

"Were you told much of how he was injured or by who?"

"Caterina while obviously very upset by the whole thing, but quite tight lipped. It was a head injury that resulted in a coma for several days. Professor Wordsworth was his main caretaker for that time and they kept him in the medical rooms of the underground verses the busy Terran hospitals."

"Nothing about how he was hurt?"

"It was sketchy but what I picked up from listening was they all thought he was dead, and it happened a short while before the attempted coup of the Londinium palace. Queen Bridget had not yet passed when Abel was reported initially as fatally wounded by Professor Wordsworth. When we reached the Island after the coup, we were then told that Abel was in a coma and they were unsure of when he would wake. Ion may have more information from Esther as I did not get an audience with her during our time but she was present during the altercation." She sighed a little, thoughtful. "I find it odd that they all seemed so shocked at the fact he had been hurt. When I worked with him in Venice, he went to the hospital and was treated like all the other victims of my carelessness." The memory of that conversation flirted across her mind, where as soon as he was satisfied with her answers he had casually removed his medical equipment, returning to work without any residual injury. "Though on further reflection he seems to heal very quickly."

"Good agents are like that, tough and hard to care for. Like yourself I would be very surprised to hear of you being hurt in the field." Seth smiled.

Astha blushed faintly at the praise. "Fair enough… Again not much was said either on who he was fighting other than it was someone trying to steal old technologies from the ghetto. Most of the event came down to Orden involvement of the Albion throne's coup."

"Learning about the reach of the Orden was both a blessing and a curse I'm finding." Seth sighed softly. "Ignorance is bliss but I am glad we have a name for this menace to both our Empire and the Terran world... Has he spoken of the fight?"

"I admit I have not asked him, but Ion mentioned that Abel said he was caught by surprise by his assailant."

A small bell chimed from the doorway signalling a servant had arrived. Moments later a friendly servant girl walked in carrying a tea service tray and a bowl of fruit. A quick curtsy and the girl disappeared back into the palace.

The squirrel jumped off Seth's lab to check out the cups as soon as they were set down.

"I doubt tea is in your diet little guy." Astha waved the silver squirrel away and served tea.

"Now… what are your thoughts towards Abel since his injury? You were worried about my safety on the ship and given your earlier question I am curious."

Astha took a sip of tea, giving some thought to her reply.

"I was... perhaps a bit over reactive to a few things that had happened after we encountered those men that were following us…"

"What happened?"

"Being he's from the Vatican and the rumours of how the AX agents are all augmented or somehow enhanced… and I'm not sure exactly what I saw to be honest... but it didn't feel like Abel for a few moments. That was not the first time I have questioned my eyesight, the other time was when we had to jump out of the ship and my parachute failed. He caught me… with use of well… wings or some kind of flying device."

Astha expected some surprise from the Empress's youthful face, but she took in the revelations without a twitch, casting her gaze towards the squirrel the only reaction.

"We all have our own demons," Seth said quietly. "The Vatican does exploit that to some degree… Abel has expressed his need to talk to you about his so that you both can continue to work together." Seth took some grapes to give to the little squirrel, giving Astha a few moments before changing the subject.

"So the ship you were coming back on was shot down from the ground?"

"Yes, when I saw the locator light on the missile it was coming up to us from below."

"And the men you and Abel stopped in the forest were connected?"

"Yes, Ion overhead them when he was separated from us that they had orders to shoot down any ships going to the Empire. Then last night the four I killed, were under contract to shoot any survivors and take them. They were armed for methuselah passengers ...Oh, while we were waiting for your ship, we were talking about how we seemed to have problems along the way to Milan. Abel suggested that the Orden could have had a hand in that."

"That doesn't bode well…"

Seth sat quietly as she mulled over the information, taking a few sips of tea. Absently she reached out to pet the squirrel as it finished its grapes.

"How is he today?" Astha finally asked after a while, unable to put off inquiring about him any longer.

The Empress smirked a little. "Eating and sleeping apparently. I will be seeing him in a little while... with the new information I will ask him to help us as an agent rather than the cushy job of a trade envoy."

Astha nodded and finished her tea, setting the cup down.

"I am comfortable with him overall even with the current… observations, and working with him has taught me new perspectives. Seeing how you have placed your trust in him, I will continue to do the same."

Seth smiled, nodding in agreement.

"I will not order you to do anything you are not in agreement with, as I believe choice is a powerful thing. I do feel he is a person that is worthy of our trust and I'm happy to hear you still hold him in favorable regards." She paused to set down her own empty cup. "Now the palace is not really the best place to gather information regarding the Orden, so depending on how quickly he wants to get back to work we could have him moved to your estate to allow him more freedom if you are willing."

"If you have need of me, I am always ready, my Empress. My home is always open." Astha said more formally.

Seth smiled again before standing up, "I've kept you long enough today. Be well and I will send you communications regarding Abel, no worries."

Astha smiled in return as she stood up, taking her hat and bowing respectfully. "Thank you for the candid talk, it has helped me greatly."

Seth grinned and scooped up the squirrel. "What can I say? In all my years, a good talk over tea always seems to help a friend."

Astha smiled warmly, "Thank you, Seth, I look forward to hearing from you."

Astha chose to walk home from the palace, her estate being about half an hour away. The busy streets were a comforting din of noise, various vehicles travelling past, the ebb and flow of people walking along the streets. Her mind wandered over the conversation with Seth.

The connection of the church to what Abel suffered from, what he called the mark of his sin… wings and a predatory gaze… the seemingly strong electric shocks she had received from him twice now. It made a lot of sense now especially given the initial reactions of the AX members to Abel's injury, the idea had even more substance. She had wondered what his extra talent was to be in the AX agency, as he was a founding member and obviously close to the Cardinal. Being augmented had be to hard on a person, but why did he hide it so much? What would make him think he was more methuselah than Terran, what had the church done to him?

Baybars stood in the hallway of the guest wing. Of the eight lights along the hallway, the three closest to Abel's room were blown. Scanning along the walls nothing else looked damaged or a cause for shortages… peculiar he thought. It was nearing 7 o clock and Augusta wanted to see the priest soon. He raised a meaty hand and knocked on the door loudly. There were sounds of someone stumbling into what could possibly be a chair, some muttering and then the door opened presenting the slightly disheveled silver haired man. He was fresh from the shower, his hair still wet and draped around his shoulders, and he was wearing what looked like an unadorned version of his priest clothes, all black and conservatively tailored. His glasses slid down his nose as he looked around, jumping slightly when his gaze found Baybars.

"Oh! Hello Sir! I will be but a moment!." Abel said apologetically, turning back into the room to grab a ribbon for his hair.

"Good evening, Father Nightroad." Baybars greeted while Abel finished tying up his hair. "I'm to escort you to the Empress as soon as you are ready.'' Baybars looked into the room covertly, his suspicions seeing nothing to warrant the electrical disturbances.

"Of course, sorry to keep you waiting!" Abel apologized, "please lead the way."

Abel followed the captain along the various hallways within the palace, as confusing as any cathedral he had ever been in. The long rest and almost sickening amount of food helped settle the crusnik, as far as he could tell. Lilith had surfaced a few times while he dreamed, guiding him to quieter memories and pressing the issue that the food, while a temporary fix was not enough.

They arrived at the doorway to a room, that was more like an office than a meeting room, with a few bookshelves along the walls and a large ornate desk with plush chairs set around it.

"Please wait here, the Empress will see you shortly." Baybars bowed slightly and left the room.

Abel stood by the bookcases, looking over the room in search of anything that showed more of Seth's personality. The Empire loved color, jewel tones and intricate details embellished with metals. This room was no different, warm wood tones along with lush fabrics of aquamarine and topaz, he wondered if it was influenced by Seth's love of pre Armageddon history.

He missed so much after Lilith's death and had selfishly left Seth to deal with the aftermath of the War. To physically see that she was able to build and manage the Empire impressed him immensely. While she was trained alongside him when they prepared for Mars, her focus had little to do with running an Empire. Random thoughts fluttered along his mind as his eyes scanned over the volumes of books.

One title caught his attention, "Historical Accounts of the Methuselah Human War." He read out loud. Part of him wanted to ignore the book, another was morbidly curious about looking at the darkest time of his existence. He reached out with a white gloved hand, sliding it mostly out of the bookcase.

"I wouldn't read that, it's rubbish." Seth said from the doorway.

Abel startled initially, nearly dropping the book before he slid the book back to its spot. He turned and bowed to her.

"Good day, your Imperial Majesty Augusta Vradica." He greeted formally.

A cheeky grin spread across her face as she closed the door.

"Good day, envoy of the Duchess of Milan, Abel Nightroad." She replied before walking around to the office chair behind the desk.

"I'm not entirely sure what I need to do as an envoy, last time was most definitely not the norm." He sat down in the casual chair set in front of the desk, the chair actually being deep enough to accommodate his lanky frame.

"I was hoping to have you sent here away, so this was somewhat already in the works with the trade agreements, Astharoshe has done all the work here really so there isn't much you need to do as an envoy."

"When I left last time I told you I was going after him. My coming here, regardless of the situation wouldn't be much more than a brief visit."

"I know, but even a short visit is better than nothing."

"I...I can't argue you there."

"Besides, you can start your search from here. We need help with the Orden, Astharoshe mentioned that you already have suspicions about their involvement with this trade talk."

He nodded in agreement, "the Orden will lead me back to him, and if I can stop him then perhaps I can destroy them as well."

"That's a lot for you to take on."

"It's what I have to do, to set things right again."

Seth sighed as she met his eyes, stubborn resolve heavy in those light blue eyes.

"Ok, I won't stall anymore." She reached into her desk and withdrew a small vial filled with a dark red liquid.

"So… this is all I usually have to take to replenish my crusnik. From what you've told me your system has done some changes and is in a constant need for fuel per say?"

Abel looked down at his hands, gloved and pristine white on the outside yet feeling the dark, repulsive stain of blood on them.

"Yes... It seems to be a constant need now, the only break I've had from the ache was after I found the pilots dead and I let the crusnik... recharge… I'm sorry Seth."

She nodded quietly, his obvious discomfort rolling off him in waves.

"You do what you have to in the field." She paused and got up, walking around the desk to kneel beside him, her hand resting on his.

He raised his eyes to look into hers, mournful icy blue to knowing emerald green.

"You've changed so much yet not at all. Gone is the simmering anger but still a gentle soul wrapped in a mind that hates injustice."

He smiled softly and slid out a hand to pat hers.

"Perhaps, as it seems I am always fighting something."

She stood back up resting a hip on the corner of the desk, pulling back from the endearing moment.

"What do you think you need to get to optimal levels for the crusnik?"

"If I indulged the cravings...buckets."

Her eyes widened, "not sure I have that much in storage."

"Logically a small concentrated portion would be sufficient but Lilith keeps urging me that they need more, that food and sugar won't be enough…"

"Right, you said that you can communicate somewhat with the new nanomachines, a fascinating development scientifically speaking, if a bit terrifying."

"Heh, yeah it can get crowded in here." He gestured to his forehead.

"Has she told you much about where they came from?"

"Only that they travel from host to host, consuming everything they can… and absorb some of their host to carry over. It's the difference between 02 and Lilith. 02 is the old alien host and Lilith is well…like her."

"And the ability to keep the host alive is incredible… you were headless and Cain survived being turned to ash in the atmosphere…"

Abel was quiet for a moment. "Cain can't seem to keep his form and wanted my records from the lab… when that didn't work he wanted my… corpse."

"So how will you stop him? It seems neither of you can actually die." She asked quietly, her gaze weighty.

He sighed, and stood up, walking over to the bookcases, fidgeting with his gloves and then Lilith's cross.

"I…. I don't know how yet. Perhaps only our weapons, my scythe and his lance can actually hurt us proper as they are a part of us. I am hoping to gain some knowledge from conversing with Lilith but so far I can't control the engagements consciously."

"What happens if you were to lose?"

"Armageddon happens again? He wants to burn the world and make it anew… no pressure to succeed." He finished sarcastically.

Seth let out a long breath. "Nope, none at all… easy peasy." She matched his sarcasm.

Coming back to her he opened his arms for a hug, needing to ease the dark foreboding the conversation had brought.

She quickly obliged, her small frame setting her head just above his diaphragm, where she could easily hear his heart thudding in its soothing steady rhythm and his arms enfolded her giving her comfort she had truly missed.

"I fully admit I'm terrified to fail, but I must defeat him at all costs... too many have suffered since that day we discovered these damned things." His deep voice resonated through his chest as he spoke. "What you've done here is amazing, giving those we brought back and their descendants a home on a place that had forgotten them… I find that since the fusion my mind drifts back to Mars and then the War when I dream. Perhaps it's because it's all her nanomachines remember, but it's like picking at an old scar till it bleeds. I see now that Cain was lost to us the minute we injected him."

"Then I must do my part. Let's figure out how to manage the cravings so you don't become like Him, that you stay you and not a puppet to the crusnik." She broke away to look into his eyes, seeing his stern determination in the azure blue depths, reminiscent of the angry lieutenant she remembered from so long ago.

"I'll try anything...I had to warn Astha before things got away on me last night. I used to have complete control of this monster and now it's like a rabid dog on a chain."

"Are they already taking over?" She asked quietly.

"No, I am still quite aware and conscious of when it's my thoughts and theirs. It's the hunger… it lashes out under any stress it seems."

Seth went back to her desk and flopped into the plush chair.

"Dehydration doesn't work, suspension syrup was mediocre at best, the virus dies out within days, and storage needs to be dark and cold at all times. I'll need a few days in my lab… are you ok to see Astharoshe in the morning?"

"Yes, I think so."

"She asked about you earlier, she thinks the Vatican augmented you and I didn't confirm or deny that logic. Her mind is trying to find answers to help understand you. I have a feeling she will be more open to the truth than most."

Abel sat down again too, a large sigh expelling from him as he mulled over her words.

"I don't know how… given she's technically food… Wait, does Baybars know about the crusnik?"

Seth smirked a little. "Yes, I have always told my head bodyguard about it in case I ever have to activate. It keeps them from wanting to attack me instead of whatever threat I would be fighting."

"Oh! That is kind of a good thing to avoid."

"Yeah… I'm talking from experience. Your closest friends need to know about it before they see it in use, the shock of it is overwhelming to most."

Her words brought back memories of Esther's shock and break down from when she witnessed his monstrous form the first time.

"I've never willingly told or shown anyone… especially if they could be on the menu." Abel said ruefully and then was quiet for a little while, thinking. His gaze wandered over his hands and long legs till they stopped at his well worn boots, triggering him to stand up.

"I have to contact the Professor! I promised I would let them know when I reached the Empire. He too was going to work on a blood supplement."

Seth's eyes widened at his sudden movements.

"I have a secure line you can use… but who the Professor?"

"An exceptionally smart man I know, and a good friend. He is the one who figured out the crusnik could survive on sugary foods to a point."

She nodded and reached into her desk to get out a communicator.

"Take it with you, so if he calls back you can answer right away."


	12. Twf 12 Coming Clean

"Iron Maiden please come in."

"Abel?!" A startled sounding Sister Kate replied.

"Yes Ma'am, I'm checking in as requested." He reported. "I arrived early this morning and now settled for a short stay."

"I'm so glad to hear you're ok even if you're a day late arriving… we heard rumours of a few ships taken damage around the Uber Berlin region."

"Ah yeah.. we were um… shot down, but we are fine and in the Empire now."

"What!? Are you ok? Ooh I knew I should have pushed harder to take you instead!"

"No, what's done is done. My companions and I are all in good health."

"If I had taken you, there wouldn't have been any crashing." She grumbled. "Do you want me to connect you to the Professor?"

"Yes please, Sister Kate." Abel smiled as he waited for her to get William on the connection.

Seth watched as Abel talked on the communicator, hearing the familiarity between him and this Sister Kate. She tried to envision what his life was like at the Vatican, being a special agent yet still being held to old fashioned codes of conduct used by the church. She sighed softly, having so little experience outside of the Empire it was hard to grasp what Abel's daily life was like.

"Abel!" Williams smooth voice filled the room. "What a pleasant surprise, though you're a bit late checking in… causing trouble so soon?"

"What?" Abel chuckled, good heartedly from Williams teasing. "No, I haven't had a chance yet honestly... We were shot down and had to get picked up. I will tell you more about it another time though. Have you had any luck with the... supplements?"

"No luck so far, the virus seems to not carry well with any preservation techniques I've had a chance to try out. Dehydration and liquid suspension failed to carry the virus live. Freezing has been promising, though I'm not sure how portable that will be for you. I'm currently testing the limits of the freezing so no conclusive results yet I'm afraid."

Abel grunted, a bit discouraged. "Perhaps I can get some help with research here. My metabolism seems to have increased and the usual methods are just getting me by."

"That is a bit of a problem. I will contact you as soon as I have anything remotely to a success my friend… if this transmitter is your contact point anyway."

Seth nodded at Abel.

"Yes, this one will be for now."

"Good, I will let Kate know."

"How is Esther?"

William chuckled. "She's showing Albion that she means business. A new cabinet and House of Lords are in the works, poor Walsh is wearing out his boots trying to keep up I'd say."

"I knew she would be great."

"She is just what the country needed I think… Anyway, I need to get back to the lab, especially with you needing a bigger dosage.

"Thank you William."

"It's the least I can do, now to work I go!" William said before ending the call.

Abel looked for a long moment at the communicator, sorting his thoughts.

"Frozen capsules shouldn't be that hard to make." Seth mused.

"But at what volume?"

"We will start small. Let me gather some supplies and while you're at Astharoshe's place, I'll see what magic I can whip up." She paused a moment, taking a slow breath. "By the way, did you know anything about the electricity surges while you sleep?"

Abel's eyes widened and he shook his head slowly. "Has there been a problem? I know at times Lilith appeared in my dreams to stop 02's awareness from dredging up… unpleasant memories but I was not aware of any physical effects."

"Baybars mentioned it earlier, as he's leery about anything that seems out of place, especially after learning about Radu's fire affinity." She got up and walked over to the bookcases, not wanting to meet Abel's eyes. "I've never had the issues you're having, 03 has never done anything without explicit commands."

She turned around to study his reaction to her words.

He was paler than moments before. His icy gaze was downcast, staring at his hands like they were foreign.

"Just promise me Abel, that you will not fall like Cain. If he's as powerful as you say, I… don't know if I could stop him... or you if 02 takes over."

Abel stood up and walked over to her, his tall broad shouldered body towering over her small, lithe one. His hands reached out to hers and engulfed them. Sad blue eyes looked into the worried depths of her green.

"Seth, I promise I won't... fall to the crusnik… I don't know what the final outcome will be... but there is... no...other… way… no one else can stop him. I can not fail." His voice was thick with emotion, going lower and deeper as he struggled to formulate the words around the lump in his throat.

Seth pulled her hands free and hugged his middle, her cheek pressing into his lean stomach, several tears sliding down her cheeks. He leaned over, hugging her in return.

"Help me get back out there, to end this before more are harmed."

She nodded against him, unable to speak yet as she struggled to contain her own burst of emotions. She was afraid for him and of him, for what could happen with the full fusion. She had only found him again and to lose him now would be heartbreaking.

He shared her fears, the very real possibility of Cain destroying him completely, taking his body to fix his own and carry out the path of destruction the crusnik desired. He was shaken to find out that in slumber, activation was happening, going forward he would have to avoid sleeping so deeply.

Abel sighed and moved away from her, kneeling down to stop towering over her.

Her emerald eyes nearly glowed from her strong emotions, the wet eyelashes clumped slightly together and her cheek was reddened from pressing into his clothes. She reminded him of when he first met Esther, a youth with big eyes and all emotions except Seth was far more than that. She had almost a millennium of experience, like him except she has lived all of those years where he had lain hidden for most.

She looked at his pale features, the long silver hair pulled back into a ponytail except for the long bangs that swept around his face. A striking face of strong angles with high cheekbones, straight nose and a pointed chin that was classically handsome. Simple rimmed glasses with a double nose bridge accentuated his light blue eyes, though she didn't understand why he had glasses with his eyesight. She furrowed her brow as she puzzled over the glasses.

"Is there something on my face?" He asked as he felt her gaze focus. They had both taken time to really look at each other, reacquainting their eyes to the once familiar faces.

"We both know very well you have amazing eyesight… so why are you wearing those?"

"Headaches from light actually... I guess I spent too much time in her tomb and my light sensitivity it a bit high. Professor made these for me," he reached up and took them off, offering for her to look at them. He was secretly relieved at the change in topic.

"But they are not tinted, how would they help?"

"He felt I would be asked to remove my glasses if they were tinted, so he found a way to manipulate the glass fractures to do away with the glare of the sun without a tint. My other set were made a little off so that I didn't see the best, it helped with my clumsy act the Vatican accepted of me." She raised them up and peered through, seeing they did not change her vision at all, but did feel the reduction of glare from the lights.

"Why did you have to be clumsy?"

"No one pays attention if they think you're incompetent. And I was very… awkward when I returned to the world. Caterina and William helped me create the fool act as a way to keep gossip down and in a way hide me in plain sight."

"Interesting solution." She settled his glasses back on his face, adjusting them till they sat evenly.

"Do I pass muster now?"

She smirked and nodded, giving him room to get back on his feet. Walking over to her desk she picked up the vial of methuselah blood and handed it to him.

"I'll have more in the morning but this should tide you over till then."

"Thanks… do you mind if I grab a few books to read? There is really no history of the Empire on record that I found. Knowing now of extra power surges happening from me… I don't want to sleep quite so much, or so deeply."

"That is understandable and I'm sure Baybars would settle down some if you didn't affect the power grid," she moved past him and selected three books from the bookcase. "These ones are good, more to the point and less embellished than most." She set them in his hands. "I'm so glad we got to have some time together… it's been too long. Now, let's meet up in the morning over breakfast and then I'll help you get to the Asran estate."

He smiled warmly, tucking the books under his arm and the vial in a pocket. "Ok, your Imperial Majesty."

"Good night, big brother." She grinned and gave him a quick hug before going to the door.

Baybars was just walking towards the room, having found no source to the power surges from the maintenance side of things. His dark eyes flickered to Abel cautiously before settling on the Empress's petite form. Her body language was very relaxed and comfortable which meant the meeting went well. Abel was standing just behind her, holding some books… his stance was more awkward and unsure in position. Baybars had earned his position with unquestionable loyalty, fierce battle skills and the ability to read body language easily, especially the Empress's.

He stopped a few feet away and bowed respectfully.

"Our guest is ready to return to his rooms?"

"Yes, if you don't mind helping him find his way back. And I think we are ok without any monitoring, so rest easy tonight Captain." Seth smiled and patted his arm as she walked past.

Abel quickly found himself back in his room, Baybars being a quiet and effective guide. It seemed that the captain was really a man of few words, and while polite enough did not invite friendly overtures. Abel set the books down on the side table near the bed, followed by his glasses as his mind wandered over the conversation with Seth.

Was he in danger of losing himself to the crusnik? The electrical surges must be when 02 is more active, when the dreams take on more upsetting topics...which begs the question of how to stop them? Was the answer to sleep in short periods or was it because of the crusnik needing more blood? He sighed and reached for the vial in his pocket.

"What a troublesome beast you are." He muttered out loud as he popped the cap off the vial. As soon as the lid was off he could feel the buzzing of the nanomachines, his skin felt tingly and his jaw ached with the pressure of impending transformation.

"Crusnik activation level 0%." He hoped that would work, to command the nanomachines to stop their unauthorized activation.

There was a pause, either because Abel held his breath or due to processing the command but the buzzing faded and the ache eased off quickly.

"Good." He drained the vial, swallowing the contents in one gulp. Immediately a shudder went through his body as the crusnik absorbed the meager offering. He shook his head in disgust, thinking on the fact that this would likely become a regular occurrence then snapped the lid back on and set it on the night table.

It wasn't that late yet… he had already slept a fair bit of the day. He took off his jacket and boots, but not ready to get into his night clothes quite yet. He was anxious, he half wondered now if coming to the Empire was a good idea… he picked up one of the books and paced around the room, randomly flipping through and reading various passages in the book.

"This isn't getting me anywhere." He tossed the book on the bed, seeing only 45 minutes had passed. He felt jittery and needed to move around, quite different from the more lethargic energy levels he had most evenings.

A respectful knock sounded from the door, startling him. He furrowed his brows wondering if perhaps Seth had found something, as he walked to the door. Upon opening it he saw a maid with a large brown paper wrapped package held in her arms.

"Um.. excuse me Sir, I have a delivery for you, Sorry for the inconvenience." She said softly.

"Thank you Miss, I appreciate you bringing this to me." She handed him the package and an envelope.

"Good day Sir!" She bobbed a quick curtesy and backed away from the door and walked quickly down the hallway.

Abel watched her go for a few moments until his eyes drifted up to the lights, remembering Seth telling him of the power surges… he sighed and withdrew back into the room

He set the package down and looked at the envelope. "Guest of the Empire - A.N." Was how it was addressed in a bold cursive writing that bordered on some of the calligraphy he had seen in Rome. Turning it over nothing more was written, "How odd."

The letter within was written in the same strong, flowing style.

"Nightroad,

My mind can not rest until we speak again. Here are the Empire clothes you had before, so that you can blend in better. My Butler, Hector is waiting by the entrance of the palace for you if you are able to meet. I understand that you may want to wait till morning so he will only be there till 8:15.

Astharoshe"

He set the letter down and looked around the room for a clock. 7:52, so not much time. Was he ready for this? Seth felt that things would go better than expected, and perhaps it had been long enough dancing around the issue… the sooner the better perhaps was the best way to handle it…

He quickly disrobed and opened the paper package to find the long flowing coat, tunic and fitted pants he wore before. He enjoyed wearing them, the light soft material and the ease of moment was a treat after the heavy, course wool of the Vatican uniform. He smiled a bit at the freshly laundered fragrance as he dressed. The Empire seemed conscious of things like color, smell and movement… except for the odd hats that did nothing for the sunlight, though to be fair the barrier kept the strength of the sun to a low level.

The tunic was a simple cut, a deep V neck, black trimmed with thick borders of white, the hem ending near his knees. The pants a simple woven material of black with similar trim going up the outside seam, luckily his boots fit well under them as the armoured portions were still decorated with the red cross of the AX. The long coat, fitted across the torso but sewn to drape easily around the hips and fall to the ankles, which made movement easy. The coat was much more decorative with white and gold embroidery along the collar and down the outer seam of the arms, including some common jewels at the joints, his were azure blue stones. At the bottom of the package was the hat, done in a similar form to what the young pope wears. His eyes flickered to the clock, 8:05. He grabbed the letter and stuffed it into his pocket.

A few strides and he was out the door and going down the hallway that the maid had taken.

When the hallway opened up to a forey with two other hallways going in opposite directions. He paused, looking at each before going with the one on the right.

Abel's long strides quickly ate up the distance and again he was at another division but a maid was in this one, dusting a decorative display of musical instruments.

"Ah… excuse me miss?"

She paused a moment, and turned to look at him questionly. "Yes?"

"I've seen to have gotten turned around, is this the way to the main entrance?" Abel easily brought forth his fool persona.

"Tch, you should pay more attention when going in a building…. take the left hallway and you'll be at the entrance." She scolded before turning back to her work.

"Thank you miss." And he quickly went down the proper hallway. It opened up to a more elaborate room with soaring ceilings and stained glass of jewel tones colouring the dim beams of sunlight that poured in. Ahh, he remembered this room from last time, finally. He went out the large double doors and stopped at the bottom of the stairs looking around for this "Hector".

An older man stood waiting near a park bench at the left of the stairway. He wore a long coat that was a soft grey and trimmed with the dark blue that Astha wore on her empire clothes. His face was kind, showing some age lines around brown eyes that were friendly when they connected with Abel's. Ah yes, he remembered that face from his stay before, just didn't know the fellows name.

"Mister Nightroad, I am honored that we get to meet again." He walked up to Abel and bowed his head in greeting.

"Hello sir!" Abel returned the greeting.

"I do apologize for the late missive, but my lady did hope you would be open to a meeting… if you will, please come with me to the estate." He gestured towards the car parked along the curb.

Abel followed him, "by all means, I would be lost otherwise trying to find her estate." His insides were flip flopping with nervousness for when he saw Astha again.

Thankfully the car ride was short, and Hector talked of the early fall weather and that it was getting to be a busy time in the city, as the products of the farmlands came in to be processed. Luckily, most of that happened across the river on the Terran side of Byzantium. Abel absorbed the information as it was interesting, to listen to something not involved in politics, warfare or his current problems… which talking with Astha was one of them.

Once at the estate and out of the car, Hector walked ahead of Abel to the gate. "Please excuse the cats… they are always a pest when my lady has been away for a while."

Abel laughed softly, "these are more than house cats, in all sense of the term."

Hector grinned at Abel in agreement.

Two large tigers were waiting at the opening of the gate.

"Back off you two, he's invited." Hector scolded the large beasts, who flicked their tails and blinked at Abel before walking off.

"The Duchess will be here momentarily, please wait in the library."

Alone in the library Abel sat down in a dark blue velvet armchair, taking off his hat and setting it down on the table beside an ornate brass lamp. He ran his hands along his hair, adjusting his ponytail absently.

Should he show her the crusnik? To what level? Was that safe? Looking around the room… it wasn't exactly big enough for his wingspan and the scythe would be even worse. And honestly, he would have to disrobe some to avoid ripping his new clothes… perhaps she wouldn't ask that of him.

Abel's heart rate was elevated, stress was coursing through him, as his thoughts tumbled together, he flinched when he felt a twinge in his shoulders and down his arms. The lights suddenly flickered in the room.

"Holy Hell!" He cursed in surprise, this must have been what Seth was talking about… except he was awake for it.

"I know I'm impressive at times but that's the first time I've had that response." Astha walked into the room, having heard Abel's curse just as she entered the room.

His startled blue eyes snapped up to meet her golden ones, his expression was blank momentarily as she caught him off guard.

"Oh! I'm sorry Astha, th-that wasn't directed at you… but ah… good evening?" Abel reached back and rubbed his neck in embarrassment, his cheeks flushed slightly. He looked again at his statureque host.

She was dressed in her casual attire, a fitted blue low cut tunic, red leggings and a white cloth belt tied around her hips, her hair was wet still from her bath so it hung longer around her face and neck, sitting along her collarbone. She had a teasing smile on her face, having thoroughly enjoyed her entrance.

"My fault for walking in without knocking, bad manners on my part." She walked over to sit on the mate to his chair. "Thank you for coming on such short notice… I just couldn't rest my mind any longer… do you want any tea?"

"When I got your letter it seemed like now was as good a time as any... No tea for now, I fear I would need something stronger for my nerves." He chuckled nervously.

She smiled encouragingly, "anything you need I can probably find for you."

Oh lord, once she knows that her blood is what I need… he thought in despair. He felt that twinge in his shoulders from earlier start again and looked at the lamp to see it flicker once more.

"Usually my power is reliable but perhaps this lamp is on its last legs." Astha said as she too saw it flicker.

"It's not your lamp… it's me." He took a deep breath, dread making his stomach feel like lead.

She blinked in confusion and leaned ahead in her chair, reaching out to place her hand on his. He jumped a little at the contact but didn't push her hand away.

"Tovarish?" Watching his handsome visage pale, his blue eyes turn their focus inward and unseeing was alarming.

He took another steadying breath and then his eyes looked into hers. "What I will tell you can never be shared…very few know of my… condition as it's not something I willingly talk about, but for your safety and perhaps partnership to continue that I do this."

She gently squeezed his hands with hers, seeing how hard this was for him, wanting to give him comfort.

"Tovarish… I promise on my family's honour to not share whatever you tell me." He could see the sincerity in her eyes as she spoke.

He nodded, and lifted her hands off of his quickly as he felt another twinge start. Again the light flickered but thankfully no arc of electricity.

She furrowed her brows at his push away of her touch, and then raised an eyebrow as the light blipped again.

"So that flicker is being caused by you?"

A sigh escaped him. "Yes, apparently it has happened while I sleep… but this is the first I've had it happen while awake."

"So… that zap when I first saw you in Londinium and then the other night after I pressed you, is a part of your augmentation?"

He got up and walked over to the bookcase, needing space as he wanted to discuss this more clinical, like how William does with bad news. Astha was not Esther, she was sharp and technical… and would pick at him to figure out how he ticked.

"How much do you know about the start of the methuselah race?"

"The usual, a virus was discovered after Armageddon and it changed some Terrans over 800 years ago, it enhanced us, making us the new human Empire because we are the next step in evolution… What does that have to do with you and your augmentations?" She paused a moment, "what did the church do to you?"

He was about to tell her that he was the next step of the evolution she spoke of, when it registered that she mentioned the church. He blinked at her blankly for a moment before he remembered that Seth mentioned that Astha had glommed onto the idea that he was augmented by the Vatican. It would be so easy, he thought, to allow that lie to cover the truth, but it wasn't right to hide this any longer.

He shook his head, his hair tie loosened some by his movements untied and his hair fell around his face. Without his glasses and bound hair he looked so different to her, gone was all traces of the fool he portrayed not so long ago.

"No, the church never did this to me… I did this to myself a very long time ago, AX only helped me come out of a dark place in my life... I used the term augmentation as a handy explanation, but in truth it's not quite right…. What do you remember seeing yesterday when you um… manhandled me?" He stood behind the chair facing her, not quite ready to sit close to her. She tilted her head back a little to look at him. She felt a pang of guilt at the fact she had gotten physical with him.

"Your eyes flickered between red and blue, your skin darkened and… I thought I saw... fangs when you spoke, but that's impossible and I can't understand it." Her eyes touched on each part of his face as she described what she saw.

"You have very good instincts Astha, why do you not trust your eyes?" He asked quietly.

"Why would you change? Your eyes… your teeth? Even as a methuselah our changes are more subtle unless it's our hands." She looked away, her gaze wandering around the room. "You did say you're more like me than a Terran but that was more than a methuselah."

"I'm not a… Terran anymore and never was a methuselah… I'm a Crusnik." He looked down at his hands, not able to look at her now. "For those brief moments I... I was fighting an internal battle similar to when a methuselah fights their blood urges."

"What urges would you be fighting?" She looked back at him, studying his features. Unease and tension was starkly apparent on his face. Comprehension was dawning as her mind worked through his words and his nervousness.

"You wanted my blood." She stated flatly.

She watched him swallow slowly and his eyes were darkened with guilt.

"Yes…I can only take in… methuselah blood."

He watched her nod in acknowledgment, her golden eyes examining him critically, but no fear could be found.

"This… Crusnik is not natural? You weren't born like this?"

"No, it was something that happened while we were on our mission…perhaps it would have been better had I never found that ship...or he had just died, instead of us saving him." Abel mumbled distractedly, seeming lost for the moment in memories.

"We? There's more Crusniks?

He blinked as he heard her question, silently cursing his careless mention of Mars.

"The others who were with me long ago... We discovered the Crusnik and stupidly injected it into our bodies… for what we gained I don't believe it was worth it in the end. And there are only a few of us left." He didn't want to have her figure out the connection between him and Seth, as that was Seth's secret to share.

Astha was silent for a few moments. "How long ago are we talking? You don't look more than mid twenties for a Terran and if you're more like a methuselah then you could be a few hundred years old."

"I'm good chunk older than you, is all I will say about that." Connecting a very old non aging being to the Eternal Empress wouldn't be much of a stretch… Abel hoped she wouldn't press more about his age.

She smirked thinking he was sensitive about his age. "Ok, I'll leave that alone for now… so your Crusnik is a virus take over like those bitten by us?"

"It's more like semi sentient alien technology that needs the bacillus virus to power it." There, he said it… summed up in as technical terms as he could about what the crusnik was.

Astha was quiet for a while again, studying him.

"Can you show me?"

The lamp flickered again as his heart rate rocketed, even knowing she would ask, hearing it made his stomach drop with anxiety. Again the lamp flickered, making them both look at the offending object.

"I didn't used to be so... visible with the electrical affinity… until I was badly hurt and they gave me full fusion to bring me back. Now… it's stronger and less restricted than ever… I refuse to show you the higher level so this will have to do." He spoke quickly, apologetic in tone. "I won't lie, I'm quite the uh… sight… so prepare yourself."

She nodded again, her ivory hair swaying with the movement, the red strip contrasting against the paleness of the rest. He could see her muscles tense in her arms, her tunic tightened across her chest as she braced for what was to come.

He closed his eyes, whispering in his mind for Lilith's cool guidance if 02 tried to do more than what the restrictions were set to.

"Crusnik activation level 20 percent."

His long, loose hair seemed to get a mind of its own, rising above his head in a crown like form, the lamp was flickering intermittently now, casting odd shadows in the room. She could see the darkening of his skin, he clenched his jaw momentarily and then the contour changed becoming slightly elongated. Her gaze flickered to his hands… what had been long graceful hands in white cloth, black talons had pierced the fabric and the hands were stretching against the cloth. Astha could feel the hairs along her arms stand up, the air held a charged feel to it. She held her breath, waiting for him to open his eyes. There was dark beauty in the seamless transition to this Crusnik form, but even so there was a feeling of menace about Abel, the possibility of danger.

He could hear her heartbeat accelerate, her breath catch as she watched his wretched form take over. He had forgotten to take off his gloves… yet another pair destroyed. His stomach roiled with tension as he kept his eyes closed.

"Open your eyes Abel, look at me."

Red eyes peered at her now where blue ones should have been. She took in a sharp breath as she felt how his gaze was not entirely friendly.

"This is… the Crusnik, the… vampire to methuselah." He said slowly, his voice lower and rough sounding, she could see how all his teeth were now sharp fangs. His lips were quite dark and the fangs showed up starkly as he spoke.

She could feel the predatory intensity from those red eyes, her instincts telling her to move out of his reach, as those claws and teeth could tear her apart easily. Gone, was the slender priest who seemed as threatening as a newborn kitten and in his place, a being with lethal abilities seething just under the surface.

She watched as he closed his eyes again, the room was feeling charged with energy and the lamp was now brighter than normal… the loud snap of the filament startled them both. She half leapt from the chair and he jerked backwards a step. The room darkened some as the only remaining light was on the far wall behind Abel, giving him a slightly sinister appearance.

"What about the… wings when you caught me?"

He looked around the room and shook his head.

"Astha, my wings wont fit in this room and I don't want to go to that level… not with you so close."

Abel could feel Lilith's cool touch swirling inside his body keeping 02 out of this conversation, but it wasn't easy. The push for higher activation was getting stronger, his shoulders itched and burned where the nanomachines clustered to build his wings. He rolled his shoulders to get some relief.

"Crusnik activation level 0%." He faded back to himself, and picked at the shredded gloves to avoid looking at her. She watched, mesmerized at the shifting of his entire self from predator to his familiar features.

"Are you a… machine?"

"Not really… Nanomachines are what make up the Crusnik and it's integrated into my DNA now… commands are used to activate them into action, otherwise I'm still human."

"Is that how your wound healed up so fast from the gunshot?"

"They repair me almost as fast as the damage happens… in most cases as long as I have supplied it with enough… blood."

"And you were able to… feed when the church sent you out to hunt us?"

He flinched a little with her question. "Yes, the rogue terrorist and what not if it was a vampire, I was called and absorbed whatever I could. The Vatican is quite dedicated to keeping the methuselah out of the general populace so the partnership worked well."

"That was 20%... what happens at higher levels?"

"There is more crusnik and less… me. The highest I had ever went was 80% but since my fight with Cain I went to complete activation and that has caused me stability problems."

"Finally a name… Cain is the guy who almost killed you?"

"Ye-yes." Abel stuttered a bit again, Astha was quick to piece things together.

He walked back around the chair and sat down, the hardest part was done and she was still here.

"Do you drink from your victims? Given all the teeth… I can't see anyone surviving."

She saw him blanch a bit at the question, regretting it instantly. "You don't have to answer that Abel, I'm curious is all."

"Well… it's more by osmosis than oral ingestion, as the nanomachines are in my blood and skin is both the biggest organ and quickest way to get to the bloodstream… if you're asking about the more direct way, it's happened and no they don't survive, but I can drink blood as easily as water in a cup."

"That makes sense. So…being here at the Empire, isn't this a problem for you? Being around all of us?"

"Well… the medical research here is far more advanced than what I could access in other areas. The empress, who has been around a very long time, has agreed to help me find a way to make a pill much like your aqua vitra."

She nodded as he spoke, connecting now why Seth would know about his… condition.

"Are the urges a problem all the time?"

He looked down at his hands, instantly uncomfortable again.

"With the changes to my system at full fusion I am struggling with the demands for more intake."

"Are you having trouble right now?"

He looked back up and his eyes locked with hers searchingly.

"Not yet… I am handling things well and I took a vial earlier to steady myself. If I tax myself with higher activation or take a lot of damage then things get tough. Before fusion I unfortunately ran myself down too low and it was very painful when I would attempt activations… oh lord those are awful." He shuddered, remembering how his whole body would short circuit and electricity would feed back into him, torturing him for several moments. "I'm not sure what my threshold is now, it's like I have to relearn myself again and I don't know what all has changed being fully fused."

She reached forward and rested her hand on his.

"Does contact make it worse for you? I've noticed you avoid it unlike before."

He tensed up for a moment, waiting for a reaction but it seemed he was relaxed enough to not trigger the lights anymore. He looked down at her hand, the graceful lines against his ruined gloves.

"At times I struggle in close quarters, I… don't trust myself completely yet. When you were in my room at Londinium I had to get you out before anything happened and then yesterday after I was shot."

She took her hand away, her expression sympathetic.

"You weren't car sick when we went to the ship, it was because of Ion and I?"

"Car sick?" he looked confused for a moment before he chuckled. "No not carsick. Ion, bless his soul had enough silver nitrate that he was more human to me than anything, you unfortunately Miss Astha were sitting too close for me at the time."

"You were ok after the ship went down though?"

She watched as guilt again darkened his features. "The pilots… you were able to replenish yourself."

He nodded quietly, watching her to gauge her reaction, finding he couldn't tell anything.

"Are you afraid of me now?" He asked quietly, his voice low and unsure. "Knowing all of this now?"

"Afraid? No, not anymore… I'm trying my best to understand you better, Tovarish. I still have a lot of questions though."

He visibly relaxed into the chair, closing his eyes and letting out the breath he held.

"Phew! I have been beside myself trying to figure out how to tell you, been urged to tell you several times actually."

She smiled softly, seeing him more himself finally.

"Your coming to the Empire is for more than just as a trade envoy for the Cardinal I take it?"

"Ah well yes, the trade aspect is actually not me at all. I'm here to disappear from the Vatican since they declared me deceased due to my extreme injury."

Astha nodded slowly, her look contemplative.

"How bad was your head injury?"

"Well… I was um… without a-a... head for a bit of time before getting more nanomachines and hitting full fusion." He winced as he spoke, knowing how far fetched it would sound.

He watched as her eyes widened in surprise.

"And you came back from that bad a wound?!"

"Apparently," he replied dryly.

She got up from her chair and placed her hands on either side of his face, inspecting him like a mother looking over a toddler, moving his head this way and that looking for a scar. She tipped his head back slightly and there at the v of his collarbone was a small white scar, sort of like a jagged bullet wound.

"Ah… Astha?" He swallowed nervously, then placed his hands on her wrists to remove her hands from his face. "Please... you're uh… too close."

She looked to see she had his head nearly stuffed against her ample chest. "Oh!"

She blushed and quickly moved away. He coughed a little to cover his own embarrassment.

"Sorry Abel, I just had to see for myself, turning into the Crusnik is one thing, but having no head is unbelievable… you really are something… else."

He smirked slightly. "I think I'll take that as a compliment, probably one of the nicer things you've said to me." He was openly grinning when he finished his statement.

His humour helped break the awkwardness that had come between them.

"They don't happen often so enjoy it." She teased as she settled back in her chair. "So… who is Cain? Is he like you?"

Abel looked back at his hands, still in their tattered gloves. "Yes and no. He has been taken over by the Crusnik instead of coexisting like I do."

"Is he able to survive injuries like you did?"

"Yes… except he needs my nanomachines to stabilize his to stay in form."

She looked at him a bit puzzled.

"It's complicated."

"I bet. Are you going after him?"

"Yes." He looked up and met her eyes, never had she seen such determination in him before. "I'm only here long enough to find a way to manage my needs and I will be gone."

Astha was quiet for a moment, looking deeply into his eyes as she made her decision.

"Esther told me when she was in the Empire that you shouldn't be left to your own devices… and as my Tovarish I really can't let you go on alone."

Abel blinked several times in surprise, before a soft snort of indignation escaped him.

"I'm not totally inept alone. Miss Esther just seemed to feel the need to manage me so I let her." He pulled off his tattered gloves and stuck them in his pocket, fumbling for his long forgotten hair tie.

"Ahh, well I'm sure you benefited from the help," she smirked. "Besides, Seth told me she wanted you to help us stop the Orden."

Finding the tie caught in some trim, he smoothed back his hair and retied it.

"I'm not surprised that she gave you a heads up… Astha, I can't guarantee your safety if you come with me, even from myself in high activation... so this isn't an easy mission. He is deep inside the Ordens workings, possibly the head of it and we have barely scratched the surface of what they are capable of."

"To stop the Orden is the most important mission for our empire right now, and given what I know now I'm more useful with you than apart."

He looked at her quizzically.

"If they can't get you a method to handle your supply, taking one with you is as good as any. I don't mind needles just I don't want to be bitten by that maw of teeth."

Abels jaw slackened in surprise, he looked at her like she had grown a new head.

"Why? Why would you do that?"

"What's a little blood? I'm a healthy woman and honestly if that's all that holding you back from going after that guy, why not?"

"Isn't it taboo for methuselah to share blood?"

"I'm a little more modern thinking I guess… intent is more important than social graces."

Abel could feel the stirrings of the nanomachines as the conversation about blood continued. His mind still stumbled over the concept that she would willing give him, his monstrous side what it needs.

"I guess you never really understood, when I chose to call you Tovarish that it's a commitment to your well being. I'm a lady who is all or nothing, when I make a decision, be it good or not… perhaps its personal failing of mine to be so quick and a bit bull headed but it's me, to the core." She explained earnestly. "You have shared with me a part of you that you're obviously ashamed of but have no real power to change, in fact you are now more intertwined with than before. Let me help you go after Cain, he took you away from your life at the Vatican, and the Orden is too evil to leave unchallenged."

Touched beyond words, Abel felt the subtle tingle of tears as they slipped from his eyes. He didn't know what to say, he moved out of his chair and reached for her hand, once his bare hands touched hers, he pulled her up and enfolded her in his arms, not knowing if she would be ok with it, hoping the crusnik would stay away as he showed her his gratitude for her faith in him.

Initially he felt her stiffness at the hug but then she returned it, her arms around his ribs in a comfortable fashion. "This is far more... than I had ever hoped for... I was so afraid to tell you about that side of me… thank you Astha." He said into her hair before releasing her and stepping back.

She looked up at him, a soft smile on her lovely face.

"You're welcome." She looked around the room for the clock, it was well after eleven. "Seth mentioned you would be moved to my estate, so that we could do our research on the Orden without interruption. Given the time, do you want to just take your room now or go back to the palace?"

"I should return as to not cause Baybars a panic."

"Hector should be still up, come on let's go find him and get you back." She went to the door and opened it.


	13. Paperwork

Astha wandered around the house after Abel left. A female tiger, Izabel trailed along bumping her wide head into her hand for occasional scratches from her troubled mistress. Astha's thoughts were scattered, images of Abel in his other form taking precedence.

She stopped walking and leaned against a pillar, looking out at the gardens… her gaze resting where a certain priest had, only a year ago tumbled back into her life. He was crucial in stopping the hardliners and ultimately Süleyman. It was funny, she thought, that the two cases that had involved people close to her, he had been there. He helped her stop Endre Kourza in Venice and laid to rest the murder of her dear friend. Abel saving Ion and Ester exposed Süleyman in the throne room, leading to his confession and failed attack on the Empress. While he wasn't saving her by any means he seemed to be the one to help her face reality head on, he left her the choice to pull the trigger.

But then… his reality was different, being more than human and methuselah, hiding a monster within himself that he obviously wished was never there. His other form couldn't be all bad though, it kept him alive even from extreme wounds… and wings, that had to be handy at times. Her mind wandered over seeing his teeth, claws and the eyes… how they lost the humanity of Abel and took on the predatory glare of the Crusnik. The stark differences between the man and the monster, a gentle nature and a violent potential. And that may be the crux of the whole thing, his inherent nature balked at what the crusink could do?

She looked at Izabel who was stretched out near her feet, watching her mistress in that cool confidant way of cats.

"If I was intelligent," a rueful grin spread across her face, "I would be afraid of what he is, but instead it's… intriguing because it's still him under it all." She sighed and slid down to sit on the floor beside the tiger, her hands caressing the obliging beast.

When he told her about his plans to go after the other like him, her heart had said he shouldn't go alone.

"I think I'm doing the right thing… to help him stop Cain... What do you think, Izabel?"

Golden cat eyes blinked back at her before the large face dropped into her lap, a loud rumbling purr filling in the silence around them. "You're not a lot of help, my dear… Tomorrow we will tackle the reports, fingers crossed something useful comes out of that mountain of reports." She paused in her strokes along the tigress's fur as her mind drifted back to how Abel had seemed so genuinely surprised at her reaction to his truth, that he expected fear and negatively from her. She felt a prickle of embarrassment at having to so clearly explain what him being her tovarish meant, but it obviously needed to be said. Izabel bunted into her hand impatiently after a while, jostling her out of her thoughts.

"Yes I will keep petting you, you greedy thing."

The soothing rattle of the tigers purr and the fatigue of the day slowly pulled her into a drowsy stupor against the pillar.

"Ahem… my lady, you seem to have missed your room." Hector tapped her shoulder.

Astha was curled up around Izabela's warm furry body on the floor. Two sets of golden eyes looked at Hector sleepily.

"I uh... guess so… thanks Hector. I don't know what I'd do without you." She slowly got herself up and on her feet. Izabel stretched out unabashedly going back to sleep.

"Sleep on the floor with your tigers apparently, now off with you, the gentleman said he was moving to the guest quarters today so I have lots of work."

"Right… give me a few hours and send some food into my office, I have a lot of research to do."

Seth looked over her tea at her brother, watching him quietly as he worked his way through a very hearty breakfast. He seemed a lot more relaxed and not the fake cheerful of his fool persona. Blue eyes flickered up to meet hers and he grinned after swallowing a mouthful of fruit.

"I best enjoy a good few meals before I'm back on the road again. And I have to say, your kitchen makes amazing food."

She laughed and took a few sips more before setting her cup down.

"I'm sure the kitchen wonders what army they are feeding, my goodness you can pack away the food."

He laughed good naturedly, having cleaned his plate and settled back in his chair with his own tea cup. "I don't blame them."

"You seem to be in good humour today, slept well?"

"I did, once I got back from Astha's place…" Seth's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "She sent a missive to talk as she couldn't wait till morning." He hastily added.

"Oh? How did it go?"

Abel took a few sips of tea before answering.

"Far better than I had hoped. She didn't shoot me, or even back away when I went to 20 percent. You know, I'm really not worthy of her dedication, but I'm glad I have it. She's decided to travel with me, knowing full well the danger… I am to her." He shook his head, "it seemed once she saw the Crusnik that her fear went away and her curiosity kicked in… She even suggested that she could be my supply if there's no success in pill form."

"Really?!"

"I know, I was shocked beyond words… I don't know how I feel about her offer though."

"Indeed… she's a great investigator and doesn't always do what I would expect, but her heart is in the right place." Seth smiled, finishing her tea. "And see, I was right, she was fine."

He smirked a little and bowed his head. "Forgive me, Empress for being wrong and doubting your words."

Seth tossed a grape at him from off her plate. "Just remember I'm right all the time and things will go easier for you."

He laughed and grabbed the offending grape to put on his plate. "Yes your Majesty."

"That's too easy. I know you… anyway all joking aside, I'm going down this morning to try a few things in the lab. Maybe I can get things to work that your friend didn't have luck with."

"Hopefully. I'll pack up my stuff for my move over to her place I guess."

"Sounds good, I will call you if I find anything on that communicator. I do have a few meetings today and I never know how long those take... Oh! Here are some more vials, take half a vial during the day and before bed." She stood up and handed him the vials. "I want to find out what is the tolerance level for daily supplementing."

"That seems excessive given how little I've lived on before." He stood up as well, putting the vials in a pocket. "But I'll do it since you asked."

"Thanks. I will see you tomorrow evening, not as the Empress but just a girl who loves to visit her friends." She winked at him playfully. He smiled in return and they left the small dining room.

Abel travelled light so it didn't take long to gather his belongings and bid adieu to Baybars at the main doors. Baybars had offered to escort him but Abel declined saying the walk and time to himself would be good.

The roads were busy with the usual daily happenings, it felt a little like Rome, the hustle and bustle of commerce lending a soothing white noise to the day. Most of the people he saw were adults with a small smattering of children occasionally. Methuselah did not reproduce as fast or as easy as humans because of the virus. His mind wandered over the other tidbits of information he had gleaned from the books he borrowed.

Last night's meeting still resonated in him, Astha's no nonsense demeanor and smooth acceptance of the darker part of him left him off balance. For all the nerves and apprehension he suffered through, the whole thing went well… Though, perhaps now that she's slept on it, things could be different. A slight knot of apprehension clenched in his stomach at the thought. Would she be uncomfortable around him? Surely she wouldn't want another activation. Oh how he hated going into things so uncertain.

Astharoshe spent her morning reading through reports from the empire of any suspicious activity she could link to the Orden. Her office was littered with papers and data cubes in casual chaos.

"There has to be something!" She ran her hands through her hair in frustration. What reports she had were all the regular run of the mill thievery, assaults and missing persons. Thankfully the empire had its own established policing force and she operated a bit outside of that realm. Somewhat like Abel, she was focused on more terrorist like threats and rouge methuselah who are out to kill Terrans.

Shifting through another pile of papers, she jumped at the knock at the door. Moving stiffly she walked over, stretching out her arms before opening the door. Standing outside was Abel, he was a bit away from the door, almost shyly awaiting her. He was dressed again in his empire civilian clothes, the cut and style did accentuate his build favourably she thought as she looked at him.

"Good Morning Astha, Hector told me where to find you after I dropped off my things." He explained, his gaze flickered over her and around, nervously.

"Good morning." A cheeky grin came to her, seeing his unease. "Welcome to my lair, I have need of your skills of sleuthing."

He smiled in return. "I make no promises but I have been known to know a few things." He touched a finger to his temple, wiggling an eyebrow theatrically. He grinned widely as he watched her roll her eyes. He enjoyed the fact she often downplayed awkwardness with humour.

"Alright priest, I'll give you a pile of reports to read for Orden activities." She cleared off a chair for him and handed him the stack of paper that had occupied the chair. Once he was settled she went back to her desk and continued reading reports.

Abel looked around the room, well anointed with bookshelves and cabinets, it was a very serviceable office that was near bursting with documents. Unlike some of the rooms in the house done in the darker wood tones, this one was light clear coat wood and a soothing light blue paint. Nearby Astha's desk was a small table with a tea service for two set aside, a bowl of citrus fruits and a few buns left forgotten. Abel looked at her several times, apprehensive of any questions about last night, but it seemed she was treating him like all was normal in the world. She was focused on her reading, long legs propped up on the edge of her desk, leaned back in her chair and a lap full of paper. A pen flicked back and forth in her hand distractedly. He sighed, going back to the tedious nature of reading event reports.

Well over an hour had passed in relative quiet as they both poured over the reports, the occasional page being pulled out to research later. A yawn and big stretch from Abel broke the companionable silence, he stood up and helped himself to the food and tea.

"Do you have a large map?" He asked after a while.

She looked around the room, her face scrunched a bit as she tried to place where the map was.

"I should… you are meaning a map of the Empire right?"

"Well, Empire and neighboring areas anyway if possible. I need to work back from where we were shot down at."

She nodded and got up to rifle through the bookcase. He put down his tea to help her look, after a few minutes he found it. "Ah ha!"

"Thanks." She plucked the case out of his hands. Clearing off the desk a bit she took out the map and laid it out flat, a few token paperweights and cups holding it down.

"We came down around here, and were picked up at this ridge." She pointed out, Abel walked over beside her and leaned in to see.

"Uber Berlin is here, we came down more west near Pila, and Seth picked us up near Podgaje."

He leaned in closer to the map, tracing the roads with his right hand.

"Hmmm, there must be some UN sites in the area to the south, Germany was at one time the height of technology in the pre Armageddon world."

"I'm not that fluent in pre Armageddon… it was over nine hundred years ago… what does old technology have to do with Cain?"

"It's the old labs that, with the help of Issack would be easy to start back up. It is likely the autojägers came from one of the UN sites that was near an area inhabited by vampires as to harvest the bodies for their ranks."

"What does UN stand for?" Her eyes flickered up to watch him.

He straightened up, a low sigh as he looked around the room, unseeing. "The United Nations was what the world leaders had set up to police the nations and stop world wars from happening. They wanted to start colonizing space as the earth was too crowded." His expression was distant and his voice soft and low. "Science and technology was the religion they followed, playing God until it backfired... the ignorant fools."

She looked at him quizzically, sensing this was a topic he was a bit touchy about, as he sounded almost angry as he talked about this UN.

Abel blinked and shook his head briefly, his silver pony tail lazily whipping from side to side. How quickly his mind went back to his time before Mars, it must be from being around Seth was dredging up long buried memories.

"Ah.. anyway, ahem...right, we might be best to focus reports on anything along the northwest borders."

"Ok, that's that data cube and the several piles of reports around that blue book." She pointed out on her desk.

A defeated sigh came from Abel. "I have a love hate relationship with paperwork… it loves me and I hate it."

Astha laughed good heartedly as her companion.

"Unfortunately I believe this will be our home for the next week… unless you have other ideas."

"No. Until something gets worked out for my... supplements I don't dare go very far."

She grabbed a bun and sat down in her chair, chewing thoughtfully.

"You've only activated twice since Albion, right?"

He nodded, sitting back in his chair and taking a few swallows of tea, dreading that she wanted another display.

"Whenever I have something new or upgraded, I like to try them out, before I have to depend on it… and if we are to go after Cain together…" she looked at him patiently.

"Go to a training field you mean?"

"Yes, I know of a few that are pretty isolated, low chance of any interference."

"Are you sure you want to see… that so soon?"

"It's still you under there, and if Cain has been using his form a lot he would be comfortable in it… you don't make it sound like you are in yours."

"Nn-no, I have a lot of experience in my form… it's a deadly thing, believe me. I don't like excessive force, or use of the Crusnik." He had put his teacup down and was fidgeting with his hands.

"But some things have changed since full fusion, right? We have the chance now to work out your bugs per say, before it's something we may need to depend on."

"There has been a few things, yes."

"We have to trust you won't eat me while we are under fire."

He blanched at her off handed comment, so casually she took the fact he consumed her blood type. He wasn't Methusalah, consuming blood wasn't in his DNA, and her attitude towards what he found to be abhorrent angered him some.

"I don't have to bite to absorb your blood… you need to not bleed around me and it'll go a lot better for us both." He remarked a little testily.

"There's a week before we can go watch the trade at the western border and I can't spend the whole time reading."

Blue eyes clashed with golden ones for a moment. "Don't push me to activate. I am more than capable without being a monster to go into battle."

She nodded, accepting his ire. "Fair enough. I don't do well with surprises so I still think we need to explore your activations before we leave for Cain."

He let out a long breath, feeling a little off balance at his irritation with her suggestion. "I'll think about it."

Seeing him relax slightly, she looked at the clock and cringed. "It's well after lunch and Hector will be waiting."

"Ah, perhaps it's a good time for a break away from all this dreaded paperwork. I always think better on a full stomach." He patted his middle.

"How do you think the rest of the time?" She grinned as she walked to the door and out into the hallway, him following.

"Well normal thinking mixed with thoughts of food of course, it's distracting being hungry you know."

He laughed as he watched her dramatic eye roll.

"Well let's get you some food before more nonsense comes out of your mouth."


	14. Training Day

Several days had passed since Abel had moved over to Astha's place. They had spent a lot of their time going through the reports, having a healthy stack to follow up on now. The large map was now tacked to the wall with pins set at each location that had anything they felt was significant.

Their conversations had stayed to safer topics of the difference between the empire and the Vatican, an enlightening topic for both. Also Abel set to learn more about Astha's upbringing, and overall the Methusalah culture. While she had taken some coaxing to open up about her childhood it had helped to pass the time in the evenings.

Abel had kept to the two feedings a day that Seth had prescribed, and was feeling quite well for it. None of the darker urges from 02 and the electricity seemed to be settled as well. Astha had remarked by the third day that his colouring had improved and he was less pale than he used to be.

It was well into the late afternoon when the communicator alarm went off in Abel's pocket.

"Hello?"

"Abel, it's William, do you have a minute?"

Astha looked up at him curiously for a moment before grabbing a few things and giving him some privacy, he smiled in thanks.

"Of course, have you had any luck?"

"Well, not yet… things in the lab haven't been playing nice with the virus, the rotters... But we have confirmed sightings of Dietrich at Krakow. Inquisitor Petros was deployed in that area for other reasons and since we have given him descriptions of the known members he was able to report. As far as I know he hasn't engaged in any battles yet... but you know Petros, it's only a matter of time."

"That's a lot further north than we had been getting any clues for, thanks for the heads up Professor."

"Anytime my friend. Has your friends research gotten anywhere with the virus?"

"Not that's portable or lasts longer than two days in storage."

"Hrumpf that's the same I'm getting too. Damned thing is too hungry to go dormant in suspension."

"Keep working at it, I'm sure it will come around."

"How have you been? Things staying quiet inside and out?"

"A steady diet has done wonders… considering how hard being here could be for me."

"A well fed wolf hiding amongst sheep isn't so bad then?"

"So far… Astha suggested a bit of training in both forms."

"That's not a bad idea. You'll be fine Abel, trust yourself a little, now that you're not starving anymore, control should be better."

"Perhaps you are right… Everything good at home?"

"Ester is doing great, Caterina is back at Milan for a few weeks again, that nagging cough seems to have come back while she was in Albion. Tres is all back to tip top shape, and I've assigned him to Caterina as a full time bodyguard. The rest of the crew is busy as usual, soon I'll be back at the university grading papers."

"Thanks for the update, Astha and I should be travelling in a few days, to monitor the area when the trade will happen."

"Best of luck, I'll keep plugging away in the lab for you."

"Thanks again and take care."

Abel clicked off the communicator and set it down beside him. No luck still with the best scientific minds he had ever known… perhaps Astha's idea wasn't so far fetched anymore. A slight shudder went through him, the idea of having to take her blood filled him with dread. He had only gotten used to the medically donated blood Seth was procuring for him, to have a friend bleed to sustain him just felt so wrong. A light knock at the doorway brought him out of his thoughts.

"Abel? You ok? Seth sent a note saying she would be over soon." Astha said as she walked back into the office, Izabel trailing behind her.

"Oh, ok that's good timing actually. William called to let me know there's some sightings in Krakow of that guy who controlled Radu last year. If he's there, then trouble is not far behind."

"So, when do we leave?" She leaned down and petted the tiger for a moment before walking over to the map.

"I think we should still watch the exchange before we go north." He looked at her back, as she stood looking over the map. Not even a blink at his news and she was already looking at how to get there, her eagerness for action surprised him.

"We need to do some training then... I found a supplier of bullets for your ancient gun, even a laser light add on for training."

"You're really set on this aren't you?"

She turned around and faced him, her stance challenging, one hand on her hip, the other waving in the air as she spoke.

"I think it would do you a lot of good. And I'm really curious now what you can do in either form. I'm itching for some activity and you must be tired of all this sitting around."

Remembering Williams words, he sighed in resignation. "Very well. Let's go early in the morning when there's fewer people around."

Astha's eyes lit up with victory as she nodded in agreement. "I'll pick up the supplies then, and perhaps some more sensible clothes for you?"

He looked down at his civilian clothes curiously. "What's wrong with these?"

"You'll likely wreck them, I'll get you some sturdier ones that are not black."

"I like black, it's what I've been wearing for over twenty years."

"Live a little, color does wonders for a person."

"No red." He said after a while.

"Deal."

"Do you need my size?"

She shook her head, "I ordered your civilian clothes with no trouble. Remember, I have seen you in hospital wear so I had a good idea what you actually looked like under those robes...

Now that you're looking robust, I'm sure some color would help, what with your silver hair and fair complexion… not to mention blue eyes are rare around here. It'll be my treat, if just for my eyes only." She winked at the last statement, amused at his slight blush. In the last few days she had discovered that flattery and flirtation always got an amusing reaction from him.

He coughed to hide his embarrassment, "I.. uh well ahem… if you're going to do it anyway, I'll leave it in your hands."

She smiled openly before cueing Izabel to follow her and waved at Abel, "I'm off for a bit then."

Abel was stretching his legs walking around the gardens when Seth stopped in. He smiled when he saw how quickly she could charm the tigers into all sorts of friendly behaviour, while they still treated him coolly. She was dressed in her tea seller outfit, tall striped socks and a simple uniform of red and white. At her hip was a well worn leather satchel.

"So a few days of daily dosing, how do you feel?"

"Much better actually… I haven't had a bad night, nor heard anything from Lilith since we started this. I feel mostly myself now, not some half starved mongrel chewing on his leash."

She smiled at him, noting herself how much he had improved since his arrival. Gone was the exhausted haggard look replaced with a more robust complexion and some flesh to his frame.

"No issues around people?"

"None, not even a twitch, thank god."

"That's good news… I'm still having trouble with the virus… I don't know how we are going to make it work for you yet without a fresh sample every two days."

Abel nodded his head "Professor just called today and said the same thing. Perhaps Astha will be right after all.

"If you give me more time, I'll make it work." She said with a touch of irritation.

"There's been sightings of Dietrich at Krakow… after the exchange happens we need to go north. As it is, we should be at the trade locations a day or so beforehand to be safe."

"I'll keep at it, for short trips I'm sure we can do a few vials and if necessary Astha… where is she anyway?" Seth looked around the gardens, expecting the striking woman to be striding towards them any second.

"She's gone to get supplies and some clothes for me. I've agreed to let her take me to an isolated training arena to do some practice… in both forms."

He watched her eyes widen in surprise.

"I wish I was free to watch. It's been forever since I've seen you in action. I admit I'm curious what being fully fused looks like."

"Am I the only one who thinks it's a bad idea? I don't remember anything when I woke up after going full fusion… what if that happens again, here with all the... food it could want."

"You're the only one right now deathly afraid of you. You have so little faith in your control that a test is exactly what you need."

That stopped him, he had been so worried about everyone else's safety from him... had it become the excuse for his fear?

"I… um…well."

"Exactly." She moved closer and poked him in the chest with a finger. "Yes, you Can be dangerous but it doesn't mean you Are dangerous. We can't remove the crusnik so learn to live with yours at the level you've been forced to fuse to. Here, you don't have to hide your skills you were already born with, and with management we can keep the cravings and problems it brings at a minimum, we've seen that already in a week. Bring forth that capable man who I know is in there, you're going to need him to finish this with Cain." She huffed a little and stepped back, having gotten a bit more emotional than she intended.

He brought forward his hands and cupped her still outstretched hand.

"Ok, ok I'll try, no more excuses."

Green eyes met blue and softened, blinking away unshed tears.

"Good."

The tigers that had been lounging on the grass nearby, leapt up and darted towards the gate.

Abel stepped away from Seth, looking as well at where the tigers had gone.

"Sounds like she's back, the tigers always get bouncy when she returns."

"I should get back to the palace… I have some ruffled boyar feathers to fix yet. Here, I brought you more vials, "she reached into her satchel and gave him a handful.

He took them, nodding in thanks as he pocketed them, then they walked towards the gate.

They could hear Astha talking to the tigers, in that conversational way pet owners always seem to use when greeted by their animals. "You poor things had to watch Abel while I was gone, the travesty of it all."

"Hey! I'm not that bad, I like them just fine, they are the offish ones." Abel grumped in defense.

Astha was knelt down picking up her bags as the tigers kept bumping her hands for pets.

"They are slow to warm up to most people honestly, but they like to try to get sympathy any chance they get."

"So it's training day tomorrow?" Seth asked.

A smug grin spread across Astha's face. "Yes, he agreed and I won't give him a way out of it now."

"Where are you going?"

"Near Çorlu, there's an old storage building and yard that the owner has abandoned that should be fine to use."

Seth nodded. "Come to the palace when you're done, I want to hear how it goes. Good luck and be careful." She waved at them both and left the property.

"I've got a few boxes of bullets and the laser muzzle for your colt revolver." She handed him a heavy bag. "And here are the clothes, no red like you asked."

He took it and looked inside, all of it was wrapped so he couldn't see anything. "Thank you Astha, I do appreciate you getting me the extra clothes and such."

"I did it as much as for you as for me, tovarish." She smiled.

"I hope tomorrow goes as well as you are thinking… are you bringing your spear?"

"Of course."

"That's harder on clothes than a bullet…"

"Learn to dodge better." She grinned. "But no seriously I will have to set on low power so it won't damage anything."

He sighed in relief, and motioned for her to head back into the house.

"I'll go get my stuff sorted out then for the training, I'll see you at supper."

Abel slept poorly that night, waking often to check the clock and adjust his pillows once again. He wasn't sure if it was nerves or not but it felt like the night that never ended. Once it was remotely morning he got out of bed and dressed for the day. Astha had picked up for him several uniforms that vaguely resembled the guards at the palace. The colours ranged from warm beige, rich chocolate to a medium/dark blue.

He grabbed the dark brown linen pants, and the lighter cream shirt with long sleeves, both lacking the ornate embroidery seen on most outfits. Abel tucked Lilith's cross inside his shirt before readjusting his ponytail. He then strapped on his gun belt around his narrow hips, criss crossing it with the ammunition belt he had filled with blanks. He tucked in a vial of blood wrapped in a chill packet into a small pouch of the ammunition belt. Lastly he pulled on his armored boots and settled his glasses on his face.

Astha greeted him in the dining room, a basket packed with food and drinks sat beside her. On the table was a platter of fruits, cheeses and breads as well as tea. She was dressed in a simple slim red t shirt and dark blue leggings that looked well worn.

"Couldn't sleep?" He asked as he sat down with his breakfast.

"Not really, been sitting too long so getting out has me all jittery I guess." She poured him his tea and pushed the sugar bowl his way.

He smiled in thanks and sat down to tea and breakfast.

"Like the clothes?"

"Very not black, but yes they are nice, thank you."

"You're welcome, they look quite good on you."

She grinned at his immediate blush before changing the topic. "What kind of training have you done?"

"I don't think there's any I haven't done. I've had guns, hand to hand, guerilla tactics, sword, power weapons, thrown weapons… hmmm sniper, obstacle, war scenarios and under water is some I can think of."

Astha's jaw was slack as she listened to him rattle off all the types.

"I didn't think the Vatican was that extensive…"

He grinned knowingly. "It's not, but I haven't always been a priest."

"Obviously. Weird special ops or something?"

"Something like that… I was trained for a remote location to be head of security for a large group."

She nodded. "Makes sense. I'll think of what we can do at the site then… I picked up a box of training bots for targets, so we can work in a team instead of against since that could cause issues with your… condition."

"Good plan and thank you for taking my warnings to heart a little."

They arrived to the abandoned yard, a large several story concrete structure. Behind it was a tall fenced yard of roughly three hundred feet by five hundred, that had various large crates and steel containers somewhat haphazardly set about. It looked like a good setup for gunfire and obstacle training to Abel.

"So, here we are…now what?"

"Take the box of bots to the middle, and press the green buttons. They are supposed to have enough programming to pick locations to their advantage for combat. It's a new model I guess."

He nodded and packed the large box out.

Inside were twelve round shiny metal balls about the size of a cantaloupe, and after some looking he found the red and green buttons under a small clear cover. He pressed the button and stood back to watch whatever it was to do.

A slight hum could be heard as the bot activated and then it floated up about chest height to Abel., A. few clicking sounds and he could see a red laser light scanning the surroundings.

"How does it know to stay within the fence?"

"Their range isn't crazy big yet, that's why I said the middle of the yard as they can't do over 200 meters." Astha answered from behind him, carrying their laser vests and their basket of food.

The first bot floated away to hide along the one storage unit a short ways off. Abel and Astha activated the rest before going towards the building.

"So the laser vests set up a small sensory field around us that detects when we are hit. I've had good luck with them so far even with my spear for detecting the laser light beams. The bots are set up similar so once you lock a bead on them and pull the trigger it will flash its acknowledgment." Astha pointed at his gun. "The muzzle on your gun senses the firing without bullets in the chamber obviously and sends a pulse down the laser beam." She explained.

"That's a pretty good system, I'm actually looking forward to this now."

The vests were simple black flak jacket style with wiring that could be felt between the layers.

"Want me to go first? Our objective is to get across the yard and to neutralize all the bots. Totally easy stuff."

He nodded, looking around to see where he would sit to watch.

"Across the yard on the southeast corner is a small platform and a chair." She pointed over his shoulder to help him locate.

"Alright, go show me what you can do then I'll return the favour." He smiled and left to go to the platform.

On her arm was a time tracking device that would also record her overall performance. Astha's best score was an 87% for accuracy, time and strategy.

A few stretches, an adjustment to her spear and she was ready.

Abel watched her from the platform, she came out and was moving towards the first bot immediately, in a low readied sneak. A few seconds later a red light flashed and she was moving to the next target. A third bot started trailing behind her and a beam red shot past her shoulder as she dodged and rolled out of the way, landing behind the racks. The noise triggered the second bot to patrol to the sound as the third gave chase.

Astha leapt up and ran across the opening to another storage unit, getting full coverage. She knelt down and pointed her spear where she had been, the two bots were quickly disabled as she shot. Hearing a slight hum she moved forward again, along the side of the storage unit wall, ready for the next bot to come around the corner.

There were nine bots remaining, and she wasn't quite to the middle of the yard yet.

Taking a deep breath, she activated haste and leapt forward passing the storage unit and out into the open, her speed blurring her for a few seconds. Skidding to a stop at the far side of the yard she crouched down behind a larger crate to wait for the bots to follow her.

Only 5 tracked her, she had moved to quickly! "Dammit!" She jumped up and shot the five bots as they hovered into range. Four were still in yard… scanning around she noticed one to the far left, it had retreated back after scanning the yard. She grit her teeth, running along the wall edge, ducking behind another crate to get a better shot. No luck, it wasn't coming back around, she was going to have to chase it. She jumped up onto the crate, a bold move even in her mind, making enough noise to attract the bots attention.

Two bots hovered up and red laser beams were directed at her, hastily flipping herself out of the way, she narrowly avoided a hit. On landing she twirled her spear around and fired at the bots, getting one and missing the second one. This time the bot did land a shot on her arm. The body scanner lit up to show the hit. It wasn't considered a lethal blow so it allowed her to keep in the simulation. "Grrr!" Ducking down behind the crate she moved over again and straightened up for another shot which was successful.

Two bots remained…they must be further in the yard. She got up and moved swiftly inwards, taking care to keep cover as she could. As she passed the larger storage unit, she heard the slight hum of a bot behind her, quickly turning around she fired at the speeding bot, almost missing as it sped towards her. "Gotcha!"

In her distraction, the last bot swung around the other side and was closing in to range quickly. She spun her spear around, instinctively using it for a melee attack with the butt of the handle. The bot veered upwards to avoid the blow, and Astha let the momentum of the spin bring the head of the spear around to shoot the bot, deactivating it. A quick look around and she ran to the back gate, ending her session.

She could hear Abel applauding from his spot on the platform above. Taking in some deeper breaths she looked at her score… 64% overall.

"That's what I get for showing off I guess." She muttered to herself as she waited for Abel to join her.

Abel made his way over, having seen her session he could see she was still apt to rush into a fight than take the time to assess things, as well as she was willing to use herself as bait was interesting.

He looked at her appreciatively, she was leaning against the wall, her spear resting on her shoulder. Sweat glistened off her skin, clothes hugging her form, hair tousled from her run… he ruefully smiled at the gritty beauty she possessed. He then noticed the slight frown as she looked at her wristband.

"Everything ok? I thought that was a good run, the bots are smarter than I would have guessed."

She looked up, her golden eyes meeting his. "I know, it took me by surprise too. I thought for sure I would have gotten them after I reached the far side."

"Do we have to reset them?"

She furrowed her brow for a moment. "No I believe they reset on their own... so it's your turn now." She smiled widely.

"Will you go up on the platform to watch or?"

"Of course! Oh and here is the performance tracker." She quickly unbuckled the wristband and placed it on his left arm. "I have it all set for you now. Good luck." She grabbed her spear and jogged past him to go to the platform.

He walked to the building, anticipation making his blood pump quickly. It had been a while since he was allowed to display his natural, if enhanced by the scientists of his youth, abilities. He tightened his hair tie, rolled the sleeves of his shirt to just before his elbows, giving his hands no encumbrance. He double checked the laser muzzle on his gun, getting a feel for the slight weight change. Pushing his glasses up on his nose, he walked out to the yard.

Looking around he listened for the slight hum of the bots… turning his head slightly he could hear two nearby. Going forward, he stepped out into the open, and looked left first, then to the right. The bots were not as fast as he thought, some lag time it seemed. They appeared at the same time from both sides, he leapt straight up, shooting left then right, getting both bots as they had just started their beams. He landed quietly and rolled forward, staying low as he moved to the first storage unit.

Again he waited, focusing on the sounds around him. It seemed only one bot was ahead, to the right. He stood up, moving quickly, his long lanky body making little sound but gobbling up distance easily. Looking around the corner he spotted the bot and fired. Another one down, nine left he thought.

Remembering how Astha's dart out didn't seem to work as well, he decided to keep moving to the right. Moments later another bot swerved around the edge of a crate behind him, only to be shot a breath later. Abel kept his momentum now, crouched a little, he weaved around the crates, sensing the right side was cleared of bots. Looking out towards the middle, the largest storage crate would likely be where another set of bots were at. He moved towards it and just before reaching it, he relaxed to let his footsteps become noisy.

The bots responded quickly, but not how he expected. They hovered over the top of the crate and had their beams aiming towards him before line of sight was made.

"Sneaky!" He flipped over and to the side to avoid the shots, shooting the bots in the process.

Another bot had flown over behind him, nearly landing a shot on his leg before he too got a shot on it. He moved to stand with his back to the crate, listening for the last five bots. His cheeks ached a little as he realized he was smiling. It felt so good to not play down his instincts.

Astha could see the smile on his face even from up on the platform, and it in return brought a smile to hers. He was remarkably faster than she anticipated, and his accuracy seemed spot on. If this is his normal… what would crusnik be like?

He couldn't sense the last few bots, they must be hiding out like they did for Astha. Wanting to stretch his legs a little more, he turned to the left side of the yard, and in a stride jumped up on the medium sized crate, getting some height advantage as well as giving away his position for a few moments before jumping up on the next taller crate. Quickly the bots detected him, coming from behind the last storage unit, their beams were swirling wildly as they tried to lock into him, but he dropped back down off the crate, gaining some cover as he fired several shots, taking out the two closest. A moment later the third and fourth bot appeared, a shot was registered on Abel's leg before he got it deactivated. "Damn. Sloppy work there!" He turned towards the exit, running past the crates, as the last bot zoomed around behind him unexpectedly. He planted his feet and leapt up, flipping himself into a roll, he shot at the apex of his rotation before landing and striding through the gateway.

He moved over to the wall, resting a hand on it steady himself to catch his breath and holster his gun. Astha was there a few moments later.

"Very nice! Here, let me see your wrist for the score." She reached for his arm, a sliver of her wondering if he would shy back from the contact, but instead he lifted it up for her to access easier.

"Your score was...83%, did you get shot?" She looked at him, curiously.

"Yup, second last one got my leg."

"That explains it, every shot you take drops you by ten percent."

"Ahh. Well it was a good session anyway."

"So… now for the main attraction?"

He looked at her sternly for a moment. "I'm not entirely sure how to handle your cavalier approach to… this."

She shrugged a little. "It's my way, I've trained tigers who would rather devour me than listen and being that one step removed gives me a clearer head."

He nodded, bringing up his arm to wipe the sweat from his brow. She noted he wasn't nearly as worked up as she had gotten from her run, which was reflected in his score.

"I did bring a vial… should I take it before or after?" He asked, fumbling with his gun belt for the pouch. Internally he was searching for Lilith's cooling presence, it had been gone the last few days with the regular feeds and quieter nights.

"As long as I don't get too close I'll be ok right? Being in the car might be more troublesome if you're a bit…peckish." Astha said, giving him an encouraging smile.

"That's true…" he sighed. "And you are right I need to see what happens in a controlled environment."

She grinned at him and made a motion of putting a mark on the wall. "I'm keeping a tally of how many times you admit that."

It was Abel's turn to roll his eyes.

"Of course… now in all seriousness, I want you to stay on the platform and switch your spear back to combat mode… just in case. You should aim for a wing if you have to."

She looked at him dubiously before nodding, taking out her spear and doing the adjustment.

"Thank you. Let's get this done before I change my mind"

With Astha waiting on the platform, Abel went back into the building, he took off his glasses, the training vest and the new shirt, not wanting to wreck it with his wings. He held Lilith's cross to his forehead and recited a quick prayer, hoping to feel her stir within, before letting it hang against his bare chest

"Well… here goes nothing."

He walked out into the middle of the yard, the bots were inactive due to him not wearing the vest anymore but they hovered somewhat in a loose 60ft circle around him anyway. He pulled his hair tie off, tucking the ribbon in his pocket. His silver mane draped over his shoulders and back, reaching halfway down his torso. He looked up at Astha up on the chair, he could feel her eyes on him.

"Here we go, wings and all." He called out to her. He saw her nod and give him a thumbs up.

"Lilith, I hope you're ready as well." He said quietly. Closing his eyes he started the sequence.

"Crusnik 02 activate, 80 percent."

Instantly he felt the hot tingling adrenaline rush within him, his long hair lifting from his bare shoulders, the near sickening pull in his mouth as his human teeth converted into the monstrous maw of fangs. The next breath brought the blistering pressure of his wings as they burst from his shoulders, massive jet black feathers reflecting the sun's filtered light. He straightened out is arms, flicking his wrist as the nanomachines generated the enormous, terrifying bone scythe and it's chain formed like a spinal column.

The dark urges of 02 were more subdued than he remembered… he flexed his shoulders a little as he delved into his mind, looking for Lilith.

"Abel, why are we activating?" He finally heard her within his mind. She seemed like she had just awoken.

"I'm testing things… is everything alright? I couldn't feel you..."

"Yes, with you routinely giving us blood, 02 has been dormant, which means I am too."

"I need you, I'm going to push to higher activation and I don't want to lose myself."

"Oh, this is a change… I will be ready to step in if you need. 02 and I have reached a truce." He could feel her mentally caress him with encouragement. "I have you, my dear."

"Thank you, Lilith.".

Abel opened his eyes finally, glowing red with a black pupil was all to be seen. Dusky grey skin replaced what had been a healthy light pink. Small arcs of electricity could be seen dancing in the air and ground around him, unfortunately striking several of the bots.

He twitched his shoulders again, letting his wings flare out fully to either side, taking a deep breath, he looked up at Astha.

He could see her, her eyes focused on him, her arms slack at her sides and a loose grip on her spear. Was she afraid? Did seeing the full version in daylight give her terror?

She watched him in astonishment… he was a sight to behold! Deadly, monstrous with incredible wings and the ominous blood scythe… magnificently terrifying. She couldn't take her eyes off him, her mind reeled at the fact that this is what hid within him. Like watching a predator with morbid fascination, he was otherworldly… Like a moth to a flame she felt so drawn to him.

she wanted to see him up close, to touch and feel the feathers.

"You didn't say anything about a weapon made of blood and bones… Where does that come from?"

Only Astha would reprimand him for details missed.

"Nanomachines." That was a hard word to say around all these teeth.

"Ah… you are more than I expected. Go on, show me what you can do!"

He nodded, feeling a cool trickle of Lilith's presence over his mind in response to his nervousness. "Trust us Abel.."

He moved his feet a little and looked up, bending at the knee, a strong sweep of his wings pushed him up twenty feet. Another push was nearing sixty, There he flexed and pushed to hold himself aloft for a few moments before another climb of nearly a hundred feet. He had forgotten the exhilaration flying could give him, he looked around at the world below, seeing it shrink away. He moved his scythe around to rebalance himself as he slowed himself to hover in the air, his wings pushing the air to hold him aloft. Looking around at the landscape he could see the barrier that Seth had created to save her people from the burn of the sun. Being above the barrier the sun was brutally strong on his skin, so he leaned forward to start his descent. As he sped towards the ground, the aura of electricity around him generated larger arcs, looking more like small lightning bolts, and giving the air a strong smell of atmosphere. He pulled back up a mere 15 feet from the ground, the wind of his wings pushing the bots and most of the dirt in the yard around. Astha had to grab the small chair before it too blew off the platform.

"What can that thing in your hand do?" She called out, pointing at his scythe.

He nodded, folding his wings out of the way and started to swing his gruesome scythe in large cutting motions. The chain that was like a tail to the scythe whipped around him, making a crack like a bullwhip. He then spun around and sliced through a nearby crate, the steel and wood giving little resistance to the blade. He focused his bio electric field and sent an arc towards a small crate that was further away, making it explode. Astha's surprised swearing could be heard over the sound of the crate crumbling. A terrifying half smile crept up Abel's face, exposing more fangs. He scanned around the yard, looking for another target, the displays fueling a want to wreck more things in the yard.

"Now what?"

Abel cocked his head to the side, not understanding her.

"At higher activation, what changes?"

He blinked slowly before responding. "I don't know… get off the platform and take some shelter... in case of lightning."

She nodded and quickly climbed down. Seeing she was safely standing under the platform, Abel took a deep, steadying breath.

"Are we ready for this Lilith?" He spoke within himself.

"Yes we are, I'm ready to activate fully again." He could feel her excitement now, the nanomachines were nearly vibrating in his veins pulling at him to activate completely.

"Crusnik 02…. activate 100 percent."

It felt like he had grabbed a live wire, his nerves were bursting with fire. A loud yell escaped him, as his body was completely fused again. Visibly his skin turned to a stormy blue grey, his wings which were big before added on more size and span. The air was almost thick it was so charged with electricity, the sting of atmospheric air was choking. And the scythe enlarged it's deadly blade, looking unwieldy even in his clawed hands, Abel's body shifted some, the leanness taking on a more impressive depth of muscle. His face changed some as well, losing his more human features as his cheek and jaw bones lengthen to accommodate the longer canines that now showed with his mouth closed. He opened his eyes last, their shape having a more tilted almond shape than before, the black pupils were oversized, almost alien like with the red surrounding them. Two small black tears slid down his face, a small sign of the intense strain of the transformation.

An all over body shudder shook him for a moment and a groan escaped his lips. He flexed his wings slightly, their size feeling awkward making his breathing slightly laboured.

Astha waited a moment and then started towards him, her spear held in one hand, slightly behind her. Her golden eyes studied him, wonderment stark on her face.

"Can I come closer?"

Abel swallowed as his gaze zeroed in on her, and the tail of the scythe began to swirl and coil around him with his nervousness, similar to a cat she noticed.

"Not yet… this is still too new." he grimaced as his voice was strange sounding, low, rough and deep, more growl than verbal.

She could see him struggle to talk around the teeth and an elongated tongue.

Astha was only twenty feet away from him, if he turned she could touch his wings. Up close she could see the large feathers, a deep ebony that reflected the light in a blinding shine. Layer upon layer they were draped elegantly along the wing.

"Your wings… they are amazing." She fought the urge to move closer.

"This isn't as bad as last time… I can think clearer than I hoped." He commented. She watched him flex his hands and shift his body around, moving the scythe around, mindful of where she stood. As much as she wanted to look into his eyes he wouldn't look up..

"Does looking at me bother you?"

His eyes darted up to her, scanning over her body several times before looking somewhat past her shoulder, not making eye contact.

"It's not as… bad as… I thought… it would...be."

"You're not as scary as I thought either." She gave him a brave grin.

The electricity around him sparked slightly, arcing from one metal surface to another as he chuckled in a brutal fashion with the low vocals of the crusnik.

He looked at her again, gauging the feelings he had swirling within him, restless and anxious but no urge to harm Astha… The crusnik seemed to tolerate her, not wanting to consume her blood.

"If you want, come closer… I seem to have things in hand for now."

He could hear her swallow and take a steadying breath, her heart rate was accelerated and he could smell the scents left on her skin from her bath, sandalwood, lavender and a touch of lime. As he focused more on her, his senses seemed to absorb her, the soft rush of air going through her lungs, the click of her teeth as she shifted her jaw around slightly, her thundering heartbeat was rhythmic almost hypnotizing. He looked up from the ground, letting himself look into her eyes. Never had the crusnik responded like this, hyper focus. She was just out of reach of his arms, standing in a wary stance but no trace of fear could be found. Her lips were parted as she exhaled out of her mouth, a slight smile of wonder shaping them. She studied him with burning intensity, from his crown of silver hair, his feral features and massive wings. Neither one noticed the arcs of electricity that leapt from crate and containers around them, so absorbed in each other.

"You are… incredible Abel. Dark and primal… I can see why you were so effective. Truly a top predator." Her voice was husky, breathless and barely louder than a whisper.

His eyes widened in surprise at her praise. She was enthralled by his dark side it seemed...

"Are you still ok with me this close?" She asked louder.

He nodded, and then watched as she stepped closer and reached out to touch his chest. As soon as her fingertips touched his skin he visibly flinched and in a whoosh of air and dust he pushed himself away, rubbing his chest where she touched with his free hand. She pulled her hand quickly back to her body, looking at him in apology.

"Sorry, I got caught up… why don't you stretch out and see what you can do? I'll be here."

He swallowed and nodded. Her touch had felt like a branding iron pressed to his chest, it was confusing and alarming.

In one strong sweep he pushed himself further into the sky, full fusion making the effort minimal. He felt powerful, coiled strength rolled in his muscles, he wondered how fast he could fly now… Looking back down at the yard he could easily see Astha, who had her hands above her eyes trying to watch him.

"Lilith, what are we capable of doing?"

"Everything, anything you want my dear. We have the power of the skies, the strength of a thousand men, the speed of the wind. There is nothing that can really stop us now."

He looked to the north, his thoughts drifting to Dietrich in Krakow and that Cain couldn't be very far away. His hand squeezed the scythe in a crushing grip. "He's still out there, wanting to burn the world."

"We could just go, stay in form and find him. There's nothing to stop us," Lilith suggested.

Imagines came unbidden of the horrible swaths of carnage he alone had done in the human methuselah wars… that now he could easily with this higher activation do worse things… how much would he destroy to kill 01?

A shrill whistle pulled him out of his thoughts.

He looked back down, having forgotten Astha.

She was waving at him to come back down.

He shook his head, clearing his darkening thoughts. She trusted him to be the one to stop Cain… to stop the burning crusade 01 lusted for. He took a steadying breath and swooped down to the earth again, letting the cold bite of the rushing air clear his thoughts.

Crackles of electricity filled the air as he landed, and with a shake of his forearm, the scythe and chain seemed to gush back into his wrist. Astha had her arms up to protect her face from the dust and debris his wings had kicked up with his landing.

"Crusnik 02… deactivation sequence to zero percent commence."

Astha's eyes widened as she tried to watch all the changes that occurred at once it seemed. The cascading of his hair around his shoulders, the pigment of his skin warming back to his more natural ivory. His hands seemed to just shrink slightly as the claws disappeared, and he heaved a large sigh as the wings absorbed into his back. Lastly the vicious maw of teeth melted back to his human visage. When next he blinked and looked at her, all traces of the monster was gone.

"So… how was it?" She asked, breathless.

"It was... more than I expected."

"I agree! I only saw a glimpse of you after the ship. What a difference knowing what you are made to seeing what you become. I understand now why you hide this, but it's incredible at the same time."

"It's been a long time since I've activated without something to fight… it changes things. I was in more control, usually in the middle of a battle I'm reactive and vicious… Damage is taken because it doesn't matter to me, only the result. It's deadly yes but not incredible as I'm barely more than a beast."

Astha shook her head, "No, you never once seemed like a beast today, I never felt like prey."

"It was like I said, better than expected… a first time for everything doesn't mean it's how it will always be."

She grunted softly, seeing he wasn't going to budge.

"I get what you mean about your wings being hard on clothes… but to fly…Was it hard to learn?"

He smiled, entertained by her curiosity. "It was awkward when we first found out about the wings, and amazing once we figured it out. I do admit the wings are handy."

She nodded, looking at his hands.

"A scythe eh?"

"The nanomachines creates it, I haven't a clue how or why it chose that. I don't understand why the transformation affects the changes it does. Cain has been mistaken for an angelic being with his wings of white and bright colouring, where I am cloaked in this monstrous darkness." He sighed softly and looked past her into the distance. "An evil thing is what the crusnik is there is no doubt, but what does it pull from the host? Was it from my rage that brought forth this demonic form?"

Astha looked at him, puzzled by his sudden melancholy.

He shook himself slightly then looked around the yard. "I don't think all the bots survived."

"Probably not… its fine they are meant to get tossed around. I'll pick them up if you go get dressed and then we'll eat before heading back. I'm not sure I want to do more training today... We may need a different site to be more challenging." Her eyes travelled over his bare chest and arms as he got out his hair tie and pulled his hair back into the familiar ponytail. "I feel you could handle a lot more than this."

"Perhaps, but it was still a good start and a nice change of pace… when we report to Seth, she'll likely have some suggestions."

"Now, go get dressed. How am I supposed to do anything with you standing half naked out here." She teased, gesturing towards his bare chest. Instantly she could see his face warm in color.

"Ah.. right! Meet you back inside."


	15. Dust and Smoke

"Only three of bots are toast." Astha said as she carried the box into the room Abel was in. He was standing with his back to the door, fully dressed again and was setting out their meal on a square metal table. Her eyes travelled over his body as her mind interposed the crusnik changes, shaking her head she set the box down near the door.

"They are tougher than I thought."

"Upgrades help a lot." She sat down and grabbed the damp hand towel to clean up her hands and face before eating. He sat as well, handing over her canteen.

"Do you do a lot of training out here?"

"Not as much as I should, but it's a good site."

He nodded, feeling a bit tired after activation. He glanced at Astha several times while they ate, wondering at her thoughts. His own reflected that at full activation Lilith was easily more accessible and seemed to have come out on top against 02. Since coming in, all traces of the crusnik were quite muted within and then when he took the vial it seemed to send the nanomachines into a sleep mode. After several weeks of their simmering presence in his mind, it was almost alarming to be 'alone'.

"We should do a few more things before going back, no crusnik this time, just normal I think." Astha suggested after a while, seeing Abel was looking calm and surprisingly relaxed.

"If you want… I did take my vial once I came in as a precaution. What are you suggesting?"

"What about a simple sparring match? Get a feel for what we both can do?"

He looked her over, thoughtfully since he didn't feel any pull for her blood whatsoever. Maybe it would be worth the test to see if Lilith and 02 were actually as subdued as it felt.

"Ok, I'll just pull back if I have any inkling."

"Weapons or hand to hand?"

"Will the vests pick up the shots?"

"Yes."

"Weapons then and if you get close enough can drop to hand to hand."

"If?" Her right eyebrow raised questionly.

He grinned widely. "If."

"Finish up, let's get back out there. I'll show you If." She stood up and went out to grab her vest and spear.

Abel's cheeks hurt at the grin he couldn't shake at her response. He grabbed his vest and followed suit..

"What's the objective?"

"I don't want to trigger your other side so can't be submission…. try to take my wristband," she raised her arm to show it on her right wrist.

"Hmm ok… my gun belt is light enough and I have my ammunition belt looped in. So the top belt on my waist."

"Bigger target, are you sure?"

He nodded.

"The vests alert to critically placed shots so be aware even if in a real situation you would just keep on… given your abilities that the vest will alert you to the shot."

"Ok. I'll go west and I'll whistle when ready."

She saluted with a jaunty wave and jogged off to the east side, disappearing behind a few crates.

Abel walked over to the west wall, he adjusted his gun belt and checked the laser muzzle on his gun again. He was genuinely curious what her methods would be this time. Waiting a few moments more he let out a short whistle.

Fast and furiously they moved around the yard, both striving for advantage over the other, Abel using his gun could fit in smaller places to shoot, where Astha's spear impeded her so she tended to go up higher on the crates. Several minutes had gone and they travelled a full circle within the yard. Astha had two minor wounds on her vest, showing her to be at 74 percent. Abel had taken one and was still over 85 percent.

He set himself to sprint across the opening to barely stop as a blast from her spear hit just in front of his chest.

"Don't take it easy on me, Abel." Astha scolded from behind him. He changed his stance and bolted in the other direction, using his enhanced speed to dart around several crates to gain some distance.

"Very cheeky Astha!" Once he stopped at the set of three short crates he knelt down and set to shoot at her. She was in pursuit and ready for him, she dropped and rolled behind a set of shelves at his first shot.

Crouched low, she returned fire, not quite able to connect a trackable shot on him as he moved back and forth from his cover.

"I could do this all day, Priest!"

He flashed a quick grin before disappearing from her view. She backed up to scan the area, not quite able to hear him. A crush of gravel to her left was all the warning she had before he was at her side. He reached around her torso, grabbing her spear and pulling it to her chest, immobilizing her. She threw her head backwards, hoping to catch his face, but she was low enough her head just hit his clavicle. He struggled with trying to hold her spear tight against her and free a hand to take her wristband. With the failed headbutt, she tried to free herself by swinging her body side to side.

A few well placed kicks to his legs and feet had him lessen his hold. She bucked her body and pulled away enough to turn to face him. He had her spear but tossed it to the side. Face to face they squared off.

Astha looked over his body, focusing on the buckle that was her target. He had set it over his vest and it sat above above his waist.

"You made your belt too accessible."

He smirked, "I didn't want you pulling at the wrong belt."

She laughed as they circled, waiting to engage. Gold eyes flickered around as blue eyes studied. He noticed her intake of breath a moment before she shifted to kick at his legs. He scooted back and grabbed her ankle to block, she twisted and flipped to kick with the other foot. He let go of her ankle to dodge the incoming foot. A cloud of dust rose as she landed hard from the failed attempt. He stood ready for her next attack, his knees slightly bent and his arms at held protectively in front. Her eyes flickered to his belt again.

He suddenly ducked down and moved forward and grabbed the back of her left knee with his right hand to cause her to stumble. Down they went in a tangle of limbs, him on top. He balanced himself on his knees and elbows as he didn't want to crush her. He managed to get her right hand pinned by her head but that opened his middle to her left hand. He flattened himself on her, his firm weight pressing her into the ground, his legs were pinning hers down.

"You're stuck… do you still want me to take your wristband?" He quirked an eyebrow, his face was close enough his bangs tickled her cheek and she could see the dirt on his lenses.

"You haven't won yet." A mischievous grin spread across her face. She rolled her hips into his, knowing he would shy away from such suggestive contact. He lifted his weight off her instantly, his expression shocked. His pause gave her the opportunity she wanted, she pulled her right hand to his shoulder and dug her fingers into a pressure point at the top of his shoulder at the same time her knee came up to his groin.

"That's a dirty trick, Astha." He growled as he rolled away. She grinned in response, then pushed herself up and away from him.

She stood up in a cloud of dust that coated them both. He was up a moment later, adding to the dust making it hard to see as it puffed off their clothes.

"Can't expect me to always be polite." She shrugged coyly.

"Apparently... they teach things differently in the Empire." His tone was full of indignation.

"I'm starting to think you've always been a priest." She teased.

He saw her flash of teeth before she launched again, this time she drove her shoulder into his midsection, giving her easy access to the buckle.

He let himself fall with her momentum, her rolling with him, her hands still on the belt. He grabbed around her waist and when he landed, he lifted her off the ground and over his shoulder. She landed with her midsection beside his head, quickly he adjusted his arms to grab her hand, his long fingers lacing through hers to hold her right hand and he squished her some with his left arm as he reached to undo the wrist band.

"Ah ha!" He instantly let her go.

She sat up to look down at him. Her eyes travelled lower and she smirked. "I wouldn't celebrate just yet, Bucko."

He furrowed his brow for a moment in confusion as he laid prone.

"I got your belt in that last tumble. You just happen to be laying on it."

He looked up at her, seeing her hair all messed up, the dust sticking to her sweat dampened skin, smears where some was rubbed off, it was probably the most disheveled looking he had ever seen her. He sat up to look at the traitorous belt.

"A tie then?"

"I'll let it go at that." She grinned, white teeth stark against her dusty face. He was just as dirty as she was, silver hair had lost its shine for the sandy coloured grime, his bangs were a mess and his ponytail was halfway down his back. His glasses were askew on his face, lenses murky with dust.

"Let's hope we can leave most of this dirt here and not in my car." She stood up and offered her hand to him. He smiled and let her help him up.

They worked at brushing the dirt off themselves. He plucked off his glasses, tsking at their grubby state. Astha grabbed their canteens from the room, dousing herself with the little that was left and getting the last bit of dirt off her face with the towel. He did the same, surprised at the amount of grime that came off.

"I think we are decent enough now. I'm ready to head back, you?"

"Indeed, I'll grab the bots and meet you at the car."

They had been driving for a short while when Astha finally felt she had mulled over things enough to talk about it.

"So… any issues?" She asked after a while.

He paused, thinking back. "No, it was all me finally, even when we are grappling, thank god."

"That's a relief ...What about earlier when you were in the other form?" Abel handed her a bun while they drove, having grabbed it from the basket in the backseat.

"No. The crusnik actually had no pull for you, and while I did take my vial, I still don't feel like I needed it overall." He had snagged an apple to eat, he tapped the back of his hand to his temple. "It's been all quiet in here, weirdly enough since I deactivated."

"That's good, right? A daily diet seems to be working?"

"Yes, I don't remember the last time I had such clarity while activated above forty percent."

She chewed thoughtfully on her bun, looking over at him occasionally. He seemed pretty chipper, and she was hesitant to ask her next question.

"Given what you're capable of… like flight and lightning bolts… what help can I be with going after Cain except as a walking snack bar?"

He half choked on his apple and looked at her, a bit horrified by the terminology.

"I don't know what will happen…but you now have a good idea of what I can become… I wouldn't blame you if you wished to stay behind. I would never force you, Astha."

"I don't want to be a liability for you… if you were to let that beast loose, the Orden would be obliterated. You are no longer held back by the restraints of the Church, no need to hide your abilities. Why not go full bore and stop him right away?"

He was quiet for a while, long enough she wasn't sure he would answer her.

"If I'm not successful, I need someone to keep him from taking my nanomachines or at least attempt to... You've seen me at full activation, can you imagine what the Orden could do with that? It's only Cain's inability to stay in form that stands in their way." His voice dropped to a deep timbre, soft and low. "And if I am successful, who will keep me from becoming that which I have slain? Who would stop me from delving into chaos, to remind me that I am human still?"

She had taken her foot off the pedal, letting the car coast a little. His glacial blue eyes held such naked honesty that when their eyes met, it brought forth the pinpricks of tears to hers.

"I hadn't thought of that."

"You are fearless, now that you know what I am and to still choose to stand there without flinching, not many could do that."

Her cheeks pinked a little, "Fear was the last thing I felt… I've never seen anything so… so incredible, the huge powerful wings, the lethal grace in your movements. It's so dark yet so beautiful of a predator. I'm in more awe than fear." The car had drifted to a slow speed on the road. Her voice was soft and husky as she spoke.

Abel's jaw was slack as he listened to her, he couldn't believe she was talking of the same creature. Astonishment was stark on his face.

Her eyes darted up to his a moment before looking back at the road, she coughed a little and put her foot back on the pedal.

"S-Sorry about that… I've made that awkward for you. I've always had an appreciation for natural predators, like my tigers, not that you're an animal but… the impressions are similar."

Abel clenched his hands into fists, once the shock wore off he felt furious that she saw anything redeeming about the Crusnik.

"Will you feel that way if I'm covered in gore, bodies hacked and strewn around from my scythe?" His voice rose with outrage. "The awful stench of flesh charred by the electric blasts. It craves your blood… if given the chance I could absorb gallons, it knows _no_ bounds in depravity... I have done horrible things because of what that form is. There is no beauty in it, only horrible ugly violence."

"But you are in there, it's a part of you and perhaps now… now you can truly make conscious use of it. The advantages of a logical mind with that form… it doesn't have to be bad Abel, you're not an evil person." She returned his ire with her own, and in her anger stomped on the brakes and pulled the car over, slamming the stick in park.

"I'm not evil perhaps but I am damned."

"Why?! Did you ask to be this Crusnik? Was it by choice you've done the horrible things you keep mentioning? I bet not. You don't work that way, at least since I've known you."

"You have known me but a blink in my existence." He snapped back.

"So what? I've seen enough to know you're not whatever your past was. Leave the past behind and live now. Not everyday you get a second chance like you did. Doesn't your faith talk all about forgiveness and new beginnings? Read your book and use it."

"The bible has nothing to do with this… I _can't_ forgive myself. I've had over 900 years to dwell on it and it doesn't just _go_ away!"

Her eyes widened in disbelief as his closed, regretting instantly that he had let slip his age. "Damn it." He whispered.

The heavy silence was only a few seconds as Astha digested his outburst. "That's older than the Empire! That would be during the Dark Ages… the wars written in the history books."

Abel's anger melted away into anguish. He looked at her, seeing her connecting what little he had said to her knowledge of history. For a moment he hated that her mind was so quick.

"Nightroad doesn't sound very different from Knightlord… the three leaders of the methuselah armies."

"Astha.." he tried to interrupt her thinking.

"You were there… the terrible past you keep mentioning. You were one of the commanders… they killed millions of people."

He hung his head, defeated, his long bangs hiding his face.

"Seth said you reminded her of someone she knew a long time ago… but she was really meaning you.." she paused looking at his bowed head.

His silence was all the answer she needed. Astha could feel his guilt radiating off him, unbuckling her seat belt she shifted herself over the bench seat and took a deep breath. She wrapped her arms around him, cradling his head on her right shoulder, not giving him a chance to shy or push her away. He put up some resistance initially but then leaned into her warmth. His arms tentatively settled around her. She rubbed her hand along his back in soothing motions, smoothing out his long ponytail.

"I have been the monster...having allowed myself to take the Crusnik in a misguided, deluded need to take back what we felt was owed to us. We, who were forgotten, betrayed and discarded by the world… it was only after he killed her that I finally saw the wrong we were doing."

"Nine hundred years is a long time to hold onto guilt, tovarish. A long time to be so tortured."

"Is it? To those I killed without thought or feeling? The families destroyed. I was one of the

Contra Mundi, a God of Carnage, Destruction and Slaughter I was labelled." He whispered against her skin, each word heavy with self loathing.

"Cain is the other Knightlord." He nodded slightly.

"Your fight with him is about more than just stopping the Orden… it goes back to the start of the wars doesn't it?"

He nodded again, "It does…Cain was my twin in looks but his mind was corroded by the crusnik… we never saw that until it was too late."

"Twin? Oh..oh I am so sorry Abel." She tightened her arms around him in sympathy. "I understand now that you _do_ need me with you ...Thank you for trusting me. I won't let you down." She placed a soft, comforting kiss on his head. If he wouldn't listen to her words of reason, she hoped the healing touch of another would give him the small bit of solace he so needed.

He responded by returning her embrace, shifting back and pulling her up next to his thigh, his hands sliding over her clothes as his arms wrapped around her fully. She was so close she could feel the thud of his heart against her own chest.

Abel relaxed into her warmth as it soaked into his body, making his muscles feel languid. Her soothing scent mixed with the earthy smell of dust saturated his senses, The emotional release he was feeling made him crave more physical connection to her, he felt so unbalanced to have gone from anger to shame to this touch starved state. She knew his awful past, that his blood stained hands forged the beginnings of her country and still did not shy from his presence.

He remembered the breathless way she spoke about his transformation, it was not fear she portrayed at all. Her body was pressing into him, the soft pillow of her breasts absorbing his movements as he breathed against her. Her hands moved along his back and shoulders, her palms sliding over the hard sinewy muscles pressing them to relax, it felt heavenly especially where his wings manifest from. Not thinking, he pressed his lips to where her neck met her shoulder, the skin was so warm and tempting... Longing spiked within him, the change from comfort to something more intense hitting him like a sledgehammer. His mind flashed back the feel of her beneath him in the scuffle earlier, the grind of her hips against his.. it was so shocking at the time but now, it was erotic and set his blood on fire. It had been beyond years since he had felt that want... Bringing his hand up to the back of her neck, his heart was beating quicker as the heady flickers of arousal danced in his veins. Unbidden, he nuzzled and opened his mouth to press a more ardent kiss to her neck... he froze abruptly letting her go and pushing himself away.

"I'm sorry Astha… I d-didn't mean to…I got carried away."

Her golden eyes were startled from the sudden change but then softened with understanding. His face was flushed and he wouldn't hold her gaze... she had pushed his boundaries hard today.

"It's ok Abel. I shouldn't have tempted you like that, just because earlier was ok doesn't mean being that close wouldn't trigger your crusnik… just sometimes a good hug is the best response to such... heavy confessions." She looked at his flushed face and shuttered expression. "We need to get back quickly if you need another vial."

Abel coughed a few times, for once he was fighting himself and not the crusnik for control, he thought ruefully. Thankfully she seemed to have interpreted his actions to wanting blood not anything more, which at the same time didn't sit well with him. Did she think of him more as that monster than as a man now?

To distract himself he cleaned his glasses which had gotten smudged with the bottom edge of his shirt.

"Th-Thank you, Astha... Again, I'm sorry for my actions."

She shrugged before settling back in the driver's seat. "If I minded, you would be sporting a black eye… or whatever you do get from a punch to the head."

"Duly noted." He replied dryly, as he pushed his glasses back on and looked out the window. He knew her casual flirting was her way of trying to loosen him up but now… he would need to be more conscious of his reactions to her if desire was getting into the mix. It had been so long since he dealt with longing and arousal that he almost preferred the ugly cravings of the crusnik.

Putting the car back in motion, she rolled down the window to cool the air as much as make conversation easily avoidable. She had taken the gamble to give him some physical contact for just a brief moment to lighten his burden that he carried. She was relieved when he returned the embrace, he seemed to need it so badly. How long had it been since he found comfort from a friend? She felt a twinge of regret that by holding her he had to fight his crusnik craving for blood. She had felt the soft press of his lips on her neck and was surprised by it, nervous butterflies had flickered inside her, wondering what he was up to. She felt the spike in his heart rate and the change in his breathing moments before she was suddenly let go. The closeness must have triggered his beast, the push was for her safety as much as his revulsion of the crusnik... No wonder he lived around terrans if simple contact with methuselah caused him such inner turmoil. She sighed softly and let her mind reflect on the conversation.

The Empress knew him with such familiarity… and was unfazed by the crusnik. Was she one as well? It made a lot of sense if she was. Methusalah eventually pass away, where she was still vibrant and youthful after nine hundred years of ruling the Empire.

Cain was his twin… he had never mentioned a word of his childhood or family… her heart ached at the thought of him already being 'killed' by his own brother. Family ties were such an important aspect of her culture that fratricide was always extra chilling a crime. As it was, her killing of Süleyman as a distant relative took a long while to cope with.

Astha glanced at Abel, he too seemed lost in thought, gazing out at the scenery. She rolled the window up, feeling that perhaps they could talk about the upcoming days instead of his painful past.

"In two days we should be on our way to just before Vienna, a town called Parndorf. From what I could find it's a fairly simple place, for a larger town anyway… from there we are only a few hours away from Krakow."

"Which also means the Orden could easily be around to sabotage the trade agreement. All it would take is the town to think the vampires are attacking and the Vatican will explode with righteous fury. Francesco is literally frothing at the mouth to send the inquisition in... Caterina has been struggling to keep him at bay as it is."

"It's too bad the Vatican can't see how well we work with the terrans of the empire. Honestly, it's been a great partnership. I feel terrible for the Albion group being held underground like that, at least in the Empire our terrans are treated with respect."

"Humans react funny when fear is involved. It's happened in history many times."

"I guess you would know first hand."

"No, not really. A lot happened while I hid from the world and humanity in general." His tone was neutral, so Astha let her curiosity take over.

"How long were you hiding?"

"Since the truce in 2220 until the attack on young Caterina pulled me out of the catacombs under Rome. That happened in 3050."

She blinked as she calculated the years.

"Wow, you were alone that long?"

"I was… inconsolable at the brutal death of a loved one and unable to cope with all that I had done, so I stayed in the catacombs… The nanomachines wouldn't let me die they just shut me down in long periods of sleep.

When I was awake I would find supplies in the various storerooms within the catacombs as well as their records and various history books."

"How did you end up in Rome? Considering the war…"

"Pope Gregorio was a forgiving man."

"Not much is written about him, other than he facilitated the truce."

"Being the defeated side, I'm not surprised."

"Very true."

Astha pulled the car into the parking spot and shut it off. "Hector will be waiting for us I imagine. Later, when you are ready we can contact Seth." She looked at him with concern, "no rush… I've probably dredged up a lot of stuff. Perhaps you should get some rest?"

"A few, yes, but it was bound to happen eventually… I'll find you once I'm ready." He reached over and patted her shoulder. "Thank you for the training, it was needed like you said."

A quick smile and they exited the car.

"Issack have they found Abel yet? It's been _days_ since I've heard anything."

A tall, slim man sat at a wide wooden table, dressed in a white uniform with red trim. Given the aged look of the room he seemed out of place in pristine white. He had a wine glass held casually in one hand, swirling the contents idly.

"It seems he did make it to 03's with his companions." Issack was standing again at the large window that overlooked the main part of the facility.

"Oh good. Seth will take excellent care of him, you know I was quite worried."

"Of course Mein Herr." he paused to take a quick drag on his smoke. "I was thinking, what if we were to attempt to take 04s body again? Seeing how 02 has done well with the mixture of nanomachines. There might be enough left in her tissues if they stored well."

A contemplative look took over Cain's face, his blue eyes half closing as he mulled the idea over.

"Would you be able to convert the nanomachines to be mine? I don't want that woman in my veins."

"There's a strong possibility I can do some reprogramming if there's anything viable left."

"Fantastic! It would be nice to stick together a touch longer when I see Abel again. We might even get a chance to talk!" Cain waved his glass towards the large glass tank at the end of the room, it was filled with a thick black liquid. "As much as the tank helps I'm spending more and more time in it again."

"Yes, I've noticed. Your ability to hold shape has lessened by a notable degree."

"I'm feeling quite solid now… we could go to Rome anytime. I've had enough of sitting in this old rusty place, I want to go personally."

"Once I get some reports back from a few of the others we can leave for the Vatican. Those that may recognize us are not in Rome currently so it's perfect timing."

A large smile spread across Cain's handsome face and he downed the contents of his glass. "Very good!"

A slight twitch at the corner of Issack's lips was all the response seen before he took a long drag on his cigarillo.


	16. The Trouble with Tigers

William Walter Wordsworth wasn't a man to admit defeat by anything remotely scientific but his latest lab was just rudely defying him at every turn. Sitting quietly, looking into the microscope he sighed as he watched the outcome of his newest attempt to suspend the bacillus virus fail.

"Damn." He sat back, aggravation radiating off him as he went through the memorized motions of getting out his pipe to absently chew on the stem, smoking in a lab was usually frowned upon.

The door to the lab slid open and a slender, well dressed man walked in, blond hair and pale eyes.

"Good evening Professor, having any luck?" Virgil Walsh asked in his ever polite Albion accent.

William shook his head, his slightly shaggy hair falling over his forehead.

"Nope, in fact it sped up the consumption of Terran blood and then the bacillus shrivelled up. What an odd behaviour."

"Hmm," Virgil leaned his hip on the corner of the bench. "The liquid that restored Abel, it was from a past host?"

William nodded, chewing on his pipe absently.

"Is that host still accessible? Perhaps we have been looking at this from the wrong side."

Williams dark brown eyes rose thoughtfully, looking past Virgil for a moment, he took his pipe out and tapped it against his knee.

"She's in the catacombs under Rome. I'm not sure I can or dare open the pod she's in though."

"It might be worth a look either way? All we are doing now is knockin our heads against the wall."

"Hmm.. Perhaps a change in scenery will help, as much as I have enjoyed your lab I do miss my own piece of chaos." He smiled crookedly, his pipe pinched between his teeth.

"Not that I've minded you here, but I do see the frustration mounting."

"Ah yes, it certainly has been a row of bad luck so far. Perhaps I'll catch a ship later today since Iron Maiden has returned to the Vatican already."

"I'll let Queen Esther know of your departure, as she has inquired a few times to your aid for Father Nightroad."

"Thanks, she's got enough on her plate to be worrying about an old dog like me." William got up, grabbing his cane from where it leaned against the bench. "I need a drink anyway, if you wouldn't mind leading me to where I can get passage times."

"Of course." Vigil smiled and followed William out.

Things at the Asran estate were for the most part quiet leading up to the trip to Panudorf. Astha, while not exactly avoiding Abel did her best to give him space, she had mumbled about seeing some belligerent behaviours from one of the younger male tigers that was in training before going to his new home. Abel offered to keep looking through reports as she spent some time with her cats.

He sat comfortably on the porch with a stack of papers on his lap, where he could easily see Astha worked with the unruly tiger. He found it intriguing to watch her carefully guide and coax the big cat to do various exercises that enforced compliance. If he did wrong she showed just enough disapproval with a touch of aggression to get snappy results, and when he did well, she peppered with praise without spoiling them.

Abel could see that Astha was drawn to their dangerous beauty. Perhaps it was because the methuselah was a top predator in all essence, that she appreciated their abilities. The revelation did seem to help lessen the outrage that burned when his mind would drift over her glowing words for his monstrous side.

Returning to his papers, he noticed there was an uptick in suspicious activity around Kràkow… a few crowds getting into a brawl, citing Vampires were not welcome. Dietrich was definitely in the area, now that he knew what to look for, he just hoped Petros was being careful… the hot headed overzealous inquisitor as not a bad guy just extreme in all aspects. Shaking his head Abel hoped they would get to the city before anything terrible happened.

Seth slipped over to see them later that evening. Abel was again sitting on the porch, a few maps set about him as he was preparing for their trip. Astha was just finishing a short session with the tiger.

"I thought you hated paperwork." Seth grinned.

"Hmm, well usually yes but it gives me something to focus on and I'm sure Astha doesn't want me to be a chew toy for that cat." He gestured with his hand towards where Astha was.

"So… how was the training? I'm all ears." She settled down on the ground near him, looking up expectantly. She was dressed in a medical uniform, he supposed it was one of her disguises.

He looked down at her, a tender smile on his face as the scene dredged up a familiar feeling to a lifetime before it all went wrong.

"Well, the crusnik seems to get sleepy with regular feedings"

An incredulous look cast across her face, her right eyebrow rising.

"I had to rouse Lilith before activating then afterwards I made sure to take the vial... and it's been quiet since. No cravings either which is odd given how I was a week ago."

"Interesting. How about during activation? How far did you go?" He could see her scientific mind cataloguing the information.

"I did go to full… I had clarity I've never experienced in form. And Lilith, she was right there with me and quite engaged. 02 was not trying to influence anything, she said they had it sorted I guess." He fingered the edge of the papers in his lap. "I felt like I could do anything, the want was there to just go after Cain that very moment… but I was able to curb it." He drifted off, looking at Astha again. "Being impulsive had my head blown off, I need to do better this time."

Seth turned to follow his gaze.

"And her?"

"See how she looks at those tigers?" He pointed again at Astha, as she was watching the tiger run after a ball, her expression was appreciative, as her gaze took in the tigers movements. "That's how she looked at me… and maybe that's all it takes... no fear from her is what keeps the cravings at bay?"

"I wish I could help more, but I don't think I've ever had the awareness with mine that you have. 03, it's been a very robotic relationship for me, it's more an augmentation than anything."

"Count your blessings."

"Chin up, with so many personalities in your head you should get some smarts." Seth grinned and ducked as he tossed a wadded up note at her.

"So all joking aside… Astha knows about my age. I kind of... well, lost my head for a bit… figuratively this time," he smirked a little at that, "and told her more than I intended."

"And?"

"She may have worked out our connection somewhat… at least that we are both long lived and knew each other during the wars."

"Well, it's not like it wasn't going to come out eventually. Your temper always got you in trouble before, why wouldn't it now?" She shrugged a slender shoulder, "She is an investigator by nature. I think I'll wait for her to come to me with questions... How about the normal training?"

"I have some opinions about her style of fighting as she leaves herself open too much, rushes in too quickly. But I've worked with worse, honestly Leon was so much worse." He rolled his eyes as he remembered Leon. "She does use whatever she can to get an advantage… she caught me off guard when we were sparring." A slight pink came to his cheeks as he reflected on how she surprised him.

"Really?" Curiosity was sparkling in her eyes as she spotted his flushed face.

"She's resourceful and uses her body… well."

Seth grinned widely, a laugh bubbling out as she looked at her brother.

"I see, being a priest does have its downfalls." That earned her a look, she coughed slightly to chase away her amusement so she could continue the conversation. "Otherwise it was a good match?"

"You have no idea how good it felt not holding back. I am a bit rusty but happy with my performance."

A smile spread across her face. "That's the best news I've heard all day."

Astha had finished with the tiger and was walking over, having seen Abel point at her a few times.

"Greetings Seth." She bowed her head in respect. "I hope things are well?"

Seth smiled and patted at the ground next to her.

"I'm sorry I missed the sparring, it seemed to have gone quite well, but I do have some news for you both."

Astha took the intended bit of ground beside the petite Seth, glad she was in more casual attire she used when training the cats so getting on the ground was no issue. Seth was in a medical student uniform this time, slate grey and white scrubs that were a tad baggy on her lithe form.

"I've secured passage for you both on a courier ship I trust, and the trader will be leaving the next day. " She looked at Abel, "Now… for Abel, I still have had no luck in getting a supplement working. I'm hoping that if you do a bigger feed here, that you'll be good for a while now that we've reached a saturation point, if you will." She dug into her pocket and tossed a small medical bag of blood at him.

Seth turned towards Astha, laying a hand on her arm. "If he seems off, all he should need from you is 10cc. Being that fresh it should give him a boost without needing volume since all the virus is alive that way." She reached again into her pockets, bringing out a small bag containing vials, a syringe and a capsule of needles. "I wouldn't recommend letting him bite you and slashing your hand to get blood is far too dramatic."

Out of the corner of her eye, Astha watched as Abel shuddered at the suggestions and set the bag to the side.

"Makes sense. I should be able to handle this easy enough if he needs it." She took the offered items.

Seth looked into Astha's eyes, searchingly for a moment before nodding. "You will be fine." Astha's cheeks flushed a little with the reassurance.

"As soon as things are done with the trade, we need to go to Kràkow… things are getting dicey going by the reports." Abel informed them. Astha nodded, agreeing.

"Send me communications as you can." Seth stood up and brushed at her pants a little. "Something is up in the air, there's a nervousness to it. Let's hope our first trade with Milan goes well or it will undo a lot of hard work."

"Once we stop the Orden, then perhaps a true agreement could happen, right now is such a powder keg of tension." Astha said.

"Yes, I feel like the known world is getting played like a piano, that whoever it is helping Cain is very cunning."

Abel and Astha nodded in agreement.

"Well, I must be off, Hector will have the passage information shortly I imagine..see you both tomorrow." She smiled at them both and waved goodbye.

A bit of an awkward silence surrounded them after Seth left. Astha looked over the syringe and needles in her hands, before sliding them into a pocket. Abel coughed and gathered the papers around him into a single pile.

She watched him fidget a little more, long elegant hands shuffling the papers again and again.

He wouldn't meet her gaze, and seemed agitated.

"I hate this, you know." He finally said.

Astha blinked and quirked an eyebrow at him. "Paperwork?"

"N-no not paperwork, being dependent on this." he picked up the bag, letting the red liquid swirl around the encasement before dropping it beside him. "I went so long without having to cater to the beast…. now it seems everything is relying on placating it… the fact that to avoid becoming a menace I'm going to have to choke down that bag… I hate it. How effective can I be if I'm always worried about my next vial? That you are willing to bleed yourself if I get acting off." He huffed a little, his big breath scattering a smaller sheet of paper to her feet. "I'm more than this, I have to be."

Astha picked up the sheet and moved to sit beside him.

"Maybe we've been looking at this all wrong? How do you know you need more blood?"

"Well… since waking, Lilith told me to take more because they needed more to work. Any blood had me activating without commands… being around you had 02 clamouring to well… it was gruesome what he wanted to do."

"They have names?"

He blinked and looked at her momentarily confused. "Yes, 02 was the first set of nanomachines I received when the wars were starting and Lilith is the second, given to me in Albion."

"Why is one a number and the other a name?"

"Well… 02 is because I was second to take the nanomachines, Cain being first and machines like numbers? It's how it's always referred to itself… 02 is dark, cruel and an awful awareness… he relishes combat, the bloodier the better ... and Lilith… well she was the last of us to take the nanomachines and the only one to die... Apparently the machines can absorb some of their past hosts, and when they gave me her nanomachines I gained her…" he paused, searching for the words. "Spirit? She talks to me as if it was still her, and I feel the calm she always gave me when we were together."

Astha reached over, placing her hand over his as he went to shuffle the pages again.

"She's who you lost and grieved for?"

He swallowed and looked down at their hands. He found it odd that she seemed to always find a way to touch him when he was upset, usually putting her hand on his.

"Yes… her and I were very close. It is a bit of a comfort that a part of her is always with me now."

Astha nodded, then bent forward to pick up his gaze. "So… I'm here, there's a bag of blood and I see no flickers of red in your eyes."

"I've been taking the vials on Seth's instructions and honestly it's been tough to choke it down. Everything has been quiet since I last activated." His frustration was easily heard in his voice.

"I thought in the car… that you were, well…" an eyebrow quirked and she slid the tip of her tongue over her own fang.

Abel focused on her mouth, the action was entirely too relaxed to be sensual but he felt himself react just the same, a coil of poorly timed desire rolled across him. He mentally kicked himself for bringing up that momentary lapse in behaviour… Of course she would ask more about it, the woman lived to embarrass him it seemed.

"Ah.. yeah well I… was distracted." He explained lamely.

She could feel his pulse jump under her fingers, and watched as he rolled his shoulders slightly. She watched him, bemused. "I see… you _do_ react to having a woman in your arms. Here I was feeling so guilty for tempting your appetite… not knowing it was a different one."

"I may be older than dirt but I'm not dead." His eyes snapped up to hers before darting away. "And I did apologize." He grumbled.

A sly grin came across her face and she lifted her hand off his. "Ok ok, I'll leave off picking on you about it." She got off the bench to give him some space. "So back to the start here… How do you know you need of blood? What signs should we look for?"

He let out a long breath, his eyes searching past her to the lawn as he mulled over her questions. "The electrical field was the last to go… so let's go with that?"

Her ivory hair bobbed about her face as she nodded. "Alright, then don't choke that bag down. Let's wait for the need and we will solve that as we can. If your friend and Seth can't get a travel friendly alternative then perhaps I was right all along?"

He peered at her. "That could backfire, and you could end up a few litres lighter."

She shook her head. "Not if you stay open about it. Don't hide from me Abel. I'm not afraid of what you become."

Blue eyes drifted down to his hands before coming back to hers.

"We can always find a way back to Seth if we have to unless we really get side tracked in Kràkow." She pressed on as he seemed undecided.

He sighed, resigned. "My stomach flipped when she tossed it at me," he picked up the bag, letting it slosh in his hand. "I'm not entirely opposed to your idea."

"Good. Now put that thing aside and let's go over the maps before I have to pack." She sat back down beside him, reaching for the maps.

Morning came with startling swiftness it seemed to Abel. They quickly ate breakfast and were out the door before the sun was up.

Standing at the docks, they watched the early morning air traffic sorting themselves out.

"Will we need to be aware of sunlight at this town?" Abel asked.

"Yes… you will be on your own during the day for the most part."

They were alone as the activity was more commercial than passenger at this time. Abel was dressed in the blue clothes she had gotten him, and the long black Albion coat. She appreciated the striking figure he cut, a tall slim figure, the breeze buffeting his long silver ponytail about his head. Knowing more about him she found it hard at times to believe he was ever that fool priest from the Vatican... The weight she saw in those glacial blue eyes made sense now, the sadness and occasional guilt that would stain them. It made her want to wake him up from his past, to see that he had a life more than his transgressions. A brief smile curved her lips, remembering how she had rattled his cage a bit with her bolder moves. She didn't mind at all, it was healthy for him to remember that he was a man and not a beast. And if she was honest with herself, she was perhaps enjoying it more than she should given they were working together.

He turned his head, catching Astha watching him.

"Penny for your thoughts?"

Astha flushed slightly at being caught red handed ogling.

"The clothes look good, blue is really your color."

"Hmm yes, it was also the accent color I had on my old uniforms."

Curiosity drove her to walk up to him a little closer, to hear a little more about his past.

"I thought the church didn't do much past black and white?"

"Before the church, wa-ay before… remember I'm carbon datable." He joked."I was a Lieutenant Colonel once."

Astha smirked a little, hearing him joke about his age, he seemed more relaxed about the topic than she anticipated.

"Did you like your job?" She decided to stay off the heavier questions that swirled in her mind.

He looked up at the sky, at the second moon, just visible at this time of day. It was called the "Vampires Moon" but he knew what it really was… the Ark, the ship that brought them back from Mars, where Lilith died and where he threw Cain out the airlock. That awful place, forever in the sky, reminding him always.

"I was bred for my job. Trained and enhanced to do it, like a tool with no thought to what would happen after the mission was done." Old bitterness laced through his words, his jovial mood gone as he gazed upwards.

Astha stepped closer to him, placing a hand on his bicep as she was still somewhat behind him. His gaze dropped from the Ark and to her hand, a slight smile on his face and he placed his gloved hand overtop.

"I'm sorry Astha, that wasn't really what you were asking. I was good at it, yes. Like it? No, I was pretty strict about security and the colonists didn't like that."

A squeeze to his firm bicep and she slid her hand away. A noise from behind caught their attention, making them both turn.

Baybars stood a short distance away from them, dressed in the daily uniform of his station, reds, golds and dark blues. His huge physique nearly engulfing the slim, almost elfin woman walking up beside him.

"Hey!" Seth waved and ran up to them. She was bundled in a long green jacket with white and silver braided straps across the front and along the shoulders.

"Good morning, your majesty." Astha bowed respectfully, Abel following suit.

"Yes, yes good morning and all that. I'm sending you both to Kràkow immediately, there's been a large explosion and Caterina has withdrawn the trade until things are more settled. My sources are a mess, the small consulate for the empire that was there was sacked and the church was bombed. Some Vatican zealot is causing a lot of trouble as well… might be someone you know."

Both Abel and Astha looked at each other surprised.

"That didn't take long. Will the ship take us?"

"Yes, it's got orders to take you. That one there on the end that just pulled up." Seth pointed down the end of the docks to their left.

Abel nodded towards Seth, and grabbed his bag as he hurried down to the ship.

"Report back once it's settled out, Duchess."

Astha bowed again before running to catch up to Abel.


	17. Ch 17 Puppet Strings

Their flight had taken only an hour and some before they were on the ground in Kràkow, the courier ship dropping them off at the commercial dock. It was looking to be an overcast, cloudy day, luckily.

"Where should we go first?" Astha asked as she carefully applied a little more UV gel on her face before putting on her sunglasses. The rest of her was protected by the UV suit she had put on while they were on the ship.

"Petros would near the church and given that he helped carry my casket this could get… awkward at the very least."

"That's true, so it's the consulate then."

Abel nodded, getting out the map to check their route while Astha walked over to the taxi lane.

Local police were visible everywhere, fire trucks having quenched the fires a few hours ago. They would pass along various crowds of people that looked confused or milled about with fearful glances. At one street a small group of angry men were being detained by a few police officers.

"I didn't think the city would be that quick to upset." Astha commented softly after they passed them.

"It's been utter chaos here, Ma'am." The driver replied as he slowed down the car. "And this here is as close as I can get, boss said no vehicles past this point. Hopefully you two can help the cops here."

They were left at the corner of a parkade, few vehicles were left as the area was evacuated after the blast. It felt eerie as there was no movement, no sounds of people going about their day. Far away was a few sirens, and the noise of cars but from what they could tell, this corner was empty. "We seem to be about a block or two west of the consulate." Abel looked over at Astha as she adjusted her long coat and hood. "Will you be ok?"

"Stop fussing over me, I know when the sun is too much and when it's not." She glowered at him for a moment before looking around. There was an odd smell to the air, something bitter and sour to her senses. Perhaps the smoke was the cause.

"Something seems really odd..."

"Exploding buildings have that effect." Abel said dryly and shrugged his bag strap more on his shoulder before drawing his gun from under his coat. He felt more than saw the withering look she sent him.

His eyes scanned the area, the commercial building were smaller, only one or two stories tall. A smattering of stores had sidewalk displays and the occasional bistro was visible. The plume of smoke from the consulate was a murky grey as it likely had been put out a while ago.

"Let's get to the consulate, it's the starting point and perhaps we will find out what the hell is going on." Astha started off down the sidewalk going westward to the location. Abel looked around a little longer before catching up with her.

"Does the air smell weird to you?"

Astha's golden eyes snapped to Abel's profile as he kept looking over the buildings.

"I can't place it but perhaps the smoke?"

"It's a chemical… just hoping it's not the one I'm thinking of. You should put something over your face, just in case."

"Poison gas?"

"Possibly."

She reached into her pockets and pulled out a long black silk scarf, wrapping it around her nose and mouth as he suggested. Little could be seen of her now, large sunglasses, a deep hood and the scarf left just a snippet of her ivory hair visible.

"Anything is possible right now…"

"What about you?"

"I'll do a low activation if I feel anything so that the nanomachines can repair any damage."

The smoke from the consulate was easily seen now, bits of brick and cement were scattered on the ground now around their feet.

A little further up they were able to see where the building had been.

"It's gone!"

The whole area was just a crater, the ruins of the foundation were but boulders of busted cement and bricks. What wooden parts smouldered a thick oily smoke. Glass on the surrounding buildings were all broken, chunks of stone stuck in their walls. There were quite a few police, ambulance and first responders vehicles sitting with doors open and so signs of life nearby.

"Abel… I see movement over to the back." Astha quickly drew her spear.

Abel stepped forward, tipping his head his glasses would slide down his nose a little. Focusing a bit more he could see someone, a larger person in an all black coat… head was covered in a type of gas mask. A cold chill went down Abel's spine, the form looking familiar. Red orbs behind the full mask glared balefully at him.

"Autojägers!" Abel fired a shot, hitting the undead, corrupted methuselah in the head. It dropped instantly.

"Dammit! I hate those things!" Astha cursed, activating the laser of her spear.

As the first one dropped, more and more of the dark forms came out of the rubble, armed with guns, knives, chunks of debris and a few looked to have grenades.

"There's an awful lot of them, hope you have extra bullets." Astha stepped forward in a ready stance, the white light her spears laser arcing across to the closest Autojäger.

A flash came from Abel's old revolver with its long, heavy barrel and then the whirl of it loading the next bullet in the chamber before the next bullet fired.

The undead were starting to fight back, bullets and other projectiles whizzed past their heads. Abel looked around for some cover… a longer bodied car was less than a hundred feet away.

"Astha! Get behind that car, I'll cover you."

As she turned to look at where he wanted her to go, a bullet ripped through her long coat, having just nicked her calf. "Son of a bitch!" She cursed, gritting her teeth and sprinting to the far side of the car. She could hear Abel shooting as she got down by the car. An explosion made her jump, and rocks fell around her. Quickly grabbing a strip of bandage cloth off her utility belt she wrapped her leg. It was minor but the day was young, no need to bleed out quite yet.

Another explosion happened not very far from where Abel was, and she noticed a pause in Abel's shooting...She shifted to the edge of the car to look around the corner.

A good portion of the autojägers were down now, and Abel was hurrying towards her. A few beams from her spear gave him time to reach her without harm.

"You got hit." He said flatly as he leapt around her and sat on the ground.

"It's nothing, and I bandaged it already."

He nodded, but she did see the flicker of red in his eyes as he looked her over quickly.

"If I keep at this I'll be out of bullets soon."

"There's been over fifty of them from what I counted."

"More like eighty and they aren't moving as fast as the normal ones, the grenades are more concerning."

"They are pretty sluggish."

Their eyes clashed, dread evident on their faces.

"Humans." "Terrans." Both answers mingling their voices together.

"The emergency workers." he loaded his gun again, quickly sliding in the 6 shells. He rose up to look over the car edge. The last twenty or so of the undead were moving towards them, most looked like the hulking mindless minions he had fought before… but then a few were slimmer, shorter..

The closer he looked the more he could see the difference in each, how the masks didn't fit well, the clothes, while uniforms were not the same. Some were blue, dark grey and a bit of reflective lettering could be seen now, the only part that was the same was the angry red glow from the eyes.

"They are not human anymore, and they look hastily converted…"

A few bullets had ricocheted off the car and one was close enough to have thrown a board at them. Astha moved and blasted over and over again at the mob. Abel was only marginally conservative with his bullets, reloading a few more times.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk, I expected much more from the Empire. A bit shoddy of a showing, really." One of the autojägers had stepped aside, its movements different from the rest. The voice was one they both had heard before… Dietrich von Lohegrin, the Puppeteer.

"Only you two were sent to protect this little outpost? I'm a little offended… perhaps I have to make a bigger statement to be noticed by the Empress."

He looked around a little then moved towards the car.

Astha readied her spear, energy humming along the shaft, Abel shook his head, signalling her to wait.

"Is that Esther's precious Father hiding behind that car? Could I be so lucky?" Dietrich's voice rose with curiosity.

Silence answered him.

"Oh come now Father Nightroad, I've known you for sooo long, a friendly hello is in order here." He paused, the head tilting to the side. "Has our dear Esther becoming queen sent you adrift? You know, I did always question your devotion to her... I personally know how tempting she can be with those big blue eyes that cry so easy and that _body_ … so tempting."

Astha watched as Abel ground his teeth and flexed his hand on the grip of his revolver. She went to fire and again he motioned her to wait again.

"I find it odd that you are here… that boarish blue haired inquisitor has his hands full at the church, he needs more help really. I left that one messier than this, a bit of a homage to Istvan really, like when we first met… Father, have you switched to the vampires plight? Given up on the broken Vatican that housed you?"

The few remaining autojägers were less than twenty feet away from the car, and Dietrich was only ten feet behind them.

"No response? Come Father, confess to me some sins, I'm sure you have a few…"

Abel nodded to Astha, before turning to shoot, his first bullet going into the eye of the body Dietrich had been talking through. Moments later all lay dead around them.

"Oh my, is that feisty lady vamp is with you again?"

This time the voice came from a woman that stood behind them, the skin gone to an ashen grey, and what looked like black blood dripped out of her nose. Her clothes were dishevelled and stained with various bodily fluids.

Abel and Astha quickly stood up, weapons ready at their sides.

"No, not my finest work these, my apologies. But gassing them worked so well that I took them without breaking a sweat." He gestured towards the buildings around, the silence of the area. "I'm surprised you didn't pick up on it." He tipped his chin towards Abel.

"You monster!" Astha fired at Dietrich, but he dodged aside last moment.

"Killing this body is nothing, I have many more I can tap into, unless you want to take on the task of giving a second death to all these people." He gestured to the surrounding buildings. "After the explosion I gave them all a sporting chance to run… and well after that I didn't spare the gas." A chilling smile pulled at the ashen face. "Though your appearance is unexpected I think I'll enjoy this more than what I originally planned." A horrible gurgling erupted from the woman's body, and she vomited a putrid liquid before collapsing.

Abel closed his eyes, uttering a quiet prayer for the fallen around him. Astha scanned the area around them, the rubble and bodies making it look like a war zone. The empty police cars and emergency response vehicles making sense. She walked closer to the consulate area, seeing that some of the dead were office workers, humans and methuselah both.

"What do we do now?" She asked quietly. "How much of what he said was the truth?"

"I'm not sure… he's capable of a lot of things. Let's try a few buildings and see what we find, I pray it's not what he said."

He stood up, shaking the dirt off his coat before he reached for his ammo belt and reloaded the revolver. He straightened up and looked over Astha before walking towards the door to the building beside the consulate.

"Stay near the entrance, whatever gas he used might still be in the buildings. I should be ok but you… might not." He held up his hand as she opened her mouth to protest. "I don't want you to turn into that." He looked back at the dead woman's body.

"Fine… I'll keep watch out here."

Abel nodded and paused to drop his bag. "Crusnik 02, activate fifteen percent."

The first building was a small office building, no noticeable smell was in the air initially to Abel. As he walked along the hallway, his heavy boots sounding menacing even to his ears. Then he caught the faint smell of a bitter chemical from an open door to his right. He could feel the nanomachines buzzing along his veins and an odd warming in his chest. Perhaps repairing the damage of the poison gas already.

In the room was a reception desk, a lady was slumped over the papers, vomit and black blood covered the surface. Abel's face showed his discomfort, a tightening about his eyes and a scowl to his lips. He moved past her to the cubicles, seeing more of the same where it looked like someone didn't listen to the orders to leave. Dietrich wasn't lying when he said he waited a little while. It could have been a lot worse… but where was the gas coming from?

Done with this section he moved to the next, finding no clues again just a few men and women who died horribly.

"Now that we are alone… Father," Dietrich's voice came this time from a true Autojäger, it looked to have been stationed at the back entrance of the building.

"This is quite bold for you, not quite your usual style." Abel said evenly. His muscles twitched as he forced himself to stand quietly, gun ready.

"I have done a few things… shall we say subpar for the Mein Herr and to gain some favor I wanted to do a little more provocative display."

"Blasting both a church and the consulate would get some attention I'm sure."

"That I got yours is even better."

Another full autojäger walked in behind Abel, stopping a meter or so away.

"What part do you think I'll play?" Red flickered in Abel's eyes as he waited to hear the answer.

"Hmm, I'm not sure, but the fact you haven't fallen to this poison gas, my own concoction is fascinating… it's a pity I can't snag you through this form as I can see you're more than just a bumbling priest. I'll have to do the next best thing."

The Autojägers both lunged for him in an attempt to grapple him to the ground. Abel swiftly moved out of the way, kicking one across the head as he pushed away. He landed tipped backwards with a hand on the ground, the other with his gun firing at the standing death hunter. They were moving quickly now, his shots not quite stopping them as they activated haste. The tight space of the hallway had him slamming into the walls, as he fought them off from trying to pin down.

"I love it when you fight back. Come Father, feed me some of that rage I see in your eyes." Dietrich's voice dripped with excitement.

Abel's hands found a blade on the belt of one of his attackers, he quickly pulled it and shoved it in its temple, the body falling instantly. The other Autojäger leapt on top of him, it's weight making him stumble. The arms went around his middle and squeezed hard to cause him to pass out. He winced as he felt ribs crack and break, down they went to the ground.

"Time to sleep, Father." Dietrich cooed into Abel's ear as he reached down for a gas grenade off the hip of the Autojäger.

"I'm a little harder to kill than that."

Abel curled up a little and then pushed up into the heavy body, throwing it off him and into the wall. He spun around and stuck his gun in the face, firing at point blank.

Abel grabbed at the wall, to balance himself as his vision swam from lack of air, broken ribs having pierced his lungs. Around his feet he could see the gas seeping from the grenade. A bit of a faintly yellow cloud, his nose burned from the fumes. He stumbled around the bodies and went outside, looking for Astha.

Once in the open he could feel the nanomachines hotly in his veins, repairing the damage. Lilith's presence was curious but didn't voice anything.

He walked around the building to where Astha was supposed to be…

"Astha?!"

His bag was still there by the door but he couldn't see her anywhere.

On the other side of the ruins he heard the discharge of her spear. He quickly ran towards the sound. She was down in a part of the basement unearthed by the explosion, fighting several more of the newer turned Autojägers and a full one.

Abel shot down into the room, downing the remaining undead.

Astha's golden eyes snapped up to him, gratefully. Her scarf had been pulled off, it hung awkwardly over her shoulder, her glasses were missing and he could see her skin was starting to burn in the cloudy daylight.

"Are you ok? What happened?" He jumped down to help her.

She lowered her spear, pulling her hood back up and securing her scarf again. Reaching into her utility belt she got out more UV gel to apply.

"I was curious, so I wandered over here to see what was left of the building, if anyone was actually alive… then these things jumped on me from behind and that big guy came running in just before you did. They were trying to knock me down, not kill me from what I could tell… you had trouble too?" She took in his disheveled hair, the black blood splattered on his skin and the red flickers within his eyes. She paused a moment as she looked him over. "Are you still activated?"

He nodded, "Yes, between the gas and some injuries I haven't deactivated yet, but we need to leave now." Quickly putting away the container she leapt up out of the crumbled basement and onto the lawn, following Abel.

"What did you learn?"

"The gas is very poisonous, he set it off after the first set of evacuation happened that's why it's there's so many emergency service people. He controls this area right now."

They hurried to their bags and then dashed down the street they used earlier.

Abel ran into the first bistro that had its doors still open. He scanned the darkened room, sensing no movement.

"This should be ok, not ideal but we have a good view of the road."

He noticed Astha was having trouble breathing, a few gasps here and there. Even for himself there was still some discomfort to his ribs but the nanomachines had repaired him mostly by now. She sat at the table just inside the door, out of the light, catching her breath.

"I'll get you some water… hopefully you haven't had too much exposure." He went into the kitchen, grateful that they were indeed empty of anyone dead or alive.

He came back with a glass of water. As he put it on the table he felt the first real flare of the crusniks demand for blood. He shook his head and sat down a little ways from Astha, looking out the door.

"Crusnik deactivate zero percent." He sighed as felt the presence leave.

"This is a lot more than we thought. I'm a bit afraid of what we will find at the church." Astha said after taking an aqua vitre pill to help after sun exposure and whatever the gas had done to her lungs.

"It is… Dietrich said he wanted to do something to gain back some approval within the Orden."

"It might have the desired affect." She looked out the window pensively.

"I want to do a sweep of the area for anymore Autojägers, but I think we got the majority of the undead civilians he planted for whoever came to check out this mess."

She sighed and turned to look at him. "I need a few more minutes, between the gas and sunlight I'm not quite up to par." He could see the fatigue on her face, dark circles under her eyes as well as the painfully red swatch of skin across her forehead and cheek that had been exposed earlier to the UV light.

His eyes met hers and softened with compassion. "Of course, tovarish."

A small smile played across her lips as she heard him use the term finally with her.


	18. Opportunity Knocks

"Rome, where civilization started, fell, rebuilt, fell and started again." Issak commented dryly as he held the car door for Cain.

A tall slim man in a light white linen long sleeved shirt and tan linen pants stood up out of the car, his blond medium length hair ruffled in the light breeze and pale blue eyes took in the ancient architecture surrounding them. In true tourist fashion he had in his hand a few brochures.

"It is a change of scenery for sure. This stuff is older than me for once."

"One of the few places that can say that is for sure, Sir." Issak tapped the car to send the driver away. Where Cain was dressed casually, Issak held to a more practical well tailored sport coat of dark grey and black pants. His long hair was gone, replaced with a short serviceable haircut, and gold rimmed glasses framed his dark eyes.

"Now! How exciting is this, finally getting to see where he lived."

"Quite."

"We won't get far talking about it, come on Issak." Cain reached in his pocket and pulled out a set of aviator sunglasses as he was finding the brilliance of the sun a tad tiring already. "I may last longer being out of this Mediterranean sunshine."

"Of course, the entrance to the tourist area is over here. We should be able to leave the tour group and carry on shortly."

"Good afternoon everyone, and welcome to the Ancient catacombs of the Necropolis of St. Peter." A pretty brunette girl dressed in a nuns habit that perhaps just out of seminary, greeted them when they entered the building. "The tour will be starting in a few minutes if you would be so kind to register at the desk."

Cain smiled warmly at the girl, nodding a thanks and walked past her into the foyer. Issak went to the desk to get the tickets and then lead his leader to the caves.

"Do try to not be quite so memorable, Sir."

"Oh, right."

They looked up as the tour guide was trying to get everyone to group up, and begin the tour.

"Professor! You're back early! Why wasn't I notified?" Sister Kate exclaimed as her sensors picked up on his familiar code being entered in the security system. Her hologram appeared beside him in the hallway.

"The call of my students drew me away from my work?" He grinned as he pushed open the door to his quarters. Walls lined with books surrounded him, the light smell of his pipe smoke gone stale assaulted his nose as he walked in.

"Hardly, classes are a week and some away and nothing new has been brought forth for you to do."

"Such a warm welcome Sister Kate." He tsked and set down his bag.

"I'm sorry Professor, just there's barely anyone around right now, Caterina and Tres are still in Milan. Leon and the rest are scattered around right now… as they don't know about Father Nightroads real condition."

"It's fine, Sister Kate. I had an idea that could help Abel, but I need to do some research first."

"Do you want me to notify Caterina of your return?"

"Not yet. I may be leaving right away if things go well."

She nodded and bowed respectfully. "Welcome back, William."

"That's my girl." He winked at her as she flickered and disappeared.

He looked at the clock, nearly 5pm already. "No rest for the wicked they say." He grabbed his cane and walked back out, heading for the old storage areas of the college. If memory served him right, there was still an entrance to the labyrinth below the archaic buildings of Rome. He stopped and turned back to his room, behind his desk was his utility belt of flashlights, tools, vials and some of his handier inventions. "Can never be too careful.." Oh and another pouch of pipe tobacco didn't hurt either.

His memory didn't fail him, he stood before a very old oak door with heavy metal hinges that dated back well before Armageddon happened… but then most of what he was walking past was very old, the archives saved by the devout, recording history as it happened. A good shove and the door swung grudgingly aside. Click, on went the flashlight, he pushed the door nearly closed to make it not obvious he had opened it, where he was going was technically prohibited but that just added to the allure really.

On his hip he touched a small metal object, activating his tracking device to record his path, before heading down the dark spiraling staircase into the catacombs.

Only once he had gotten Abel to talk about being in the catacombs, and it had taken an astounding amount of alcohol. Lilith's pod was set in a small alcove, to the north and east of the archive entrance, but it was a good jaunt from what he gathered. He should have gotten Tres to give him the coordinates before sending him off with Caterina but hindsight being what it is… William sighed as he came to a fork in the tunnels. Pulling out his pipe for a few minutes he pondered which way to turn. Looking over the walls in their yellowed illumination he noticed the right tunnel had marks along the wall, where something had scraped the wall with a corner.

"Ah… here we go."

Meanwhile, in another area of the catacombs the tour group had just finished walking through the first level that was open to tourists.

"Come along everyone, our next level has exhibits of things from the very first world wars, several centuries before Armageddon happened. The only reason we have these marvellous relics is due to the stalwart efforts of the Vatican to preserve our history as we must learn from our mistakes to ensure the future lives on." The tour guides voice drifted away as she lead them further away.

"That was pretty boring, really. Which way do we need to go?" Cain looked around at the several roped off tunnels.

"My research gave me approximate coordinates and I believe it's this way." Issak pointed at middle tunnel that dipped down a winding staircase to another level. He pulled out a small electric lantern, it's cold white light cascading along the ancient stone walls.

"How long will this take?"

"I believe we have a few kilometres to walk, are you still feeling up to it?" He cast an inquiring gaze back at Cain. "I can continue on without you if need be."

"No, no, I'm coming with you to see this. But perhaps when we get done we can go grab some supper."

nodded before moving further down the staircase.

William leaned on his cane as he stopped for a short rest. The hallway he followed looked to open up larger chamber that had several rooms jutting off. It seemed like the type of area to put a lifepod in, and where Abel would have wandered. He moved his light around, studying the main room. A few benches that had seen better days were set along the walls, an old circuit ran along the ceiling, crudely tacked into the stone a long time ago. He followed it to a switch, bracing himself to be electrocuted, flicked it.

"How about that." He muttered as the rooms filled with light from the decrepit light bulbs.

There were four doorways that lead from the main room. William took the first one on his left.

A modest sized room, a long cot and a nightstand was all that occupied it, the layers of dust suggesting it hadn't been used in a long time. He moved to the next room, a small table and single chair sat off to the side, the wood looking well worn on the side where someone would have sat, elbows on the table, chest rubbing against the edge. William could easily picture Abel sitting there, head resting in his hands as he does when bothered. He shook himself at the solemn sadness the whole place seem to be saturated in. Abel alluded to the fact he had been down here a long time but never gave anything concrete, just that it was over a hundred was the closest he ever came to it.

The third room had signs of disturbance. A large curtain was pulled back and a space life pod was exposed. William took a long breath, exhaling with a quiet prayer in reverence to Abel's long lost friend. He set his cane against the wall and moved closer, bringing up his light.

Smooth glass in a bubble shape encased the top, a white metal the lower half and a very soft, faint hum could be heard as he got closer.

Within the pod held in stasis was a beautiful, exotic looking woman. Dark creamy skin that still seemed to hold a speck of vitality given the color, lush red hair surrounded her head and shoulders in abundance. It truly looked as if she was sleeping, that he had just peered in on her rest.

"I can see why Abel mourned you so long… you don't seem passed." He looked around on the pod for where the capsule Tres had taken out had been stored.

He hummed a little as he searched around, careful to not touch anything that would upset the delicate system that was keeping her so well preserved.

"Ahh ha!" He found on the bottom corner a small cap that when he tapped it was hollow sounding. He knelt down checking around the area, perhaps there was a second vial? Or anything really that had her blood in it.

"I don't really want to open your casket my dear." He stood up and leaned against the wall, thinking.

Abel had spoken during nightmares early on in his time with AX, when they had him staying with William while Caterina was in the dormitory. In one painful remembrance he had repeated in a broken voice about her head hanging in his hands. Williams warm brown eyes flickered up and scanned the head and neck of the body. Did it regenerate? It didn't look like any makeup or additional tissues were used to hide a wound as ugly as a beheading would be…

"Perhaps my dear lady I will need in that pod of yours after all…my sincere apologies."

"Looks like Abel forgot to turn off his lights when he left." Cain commented as he could just seen the faint glow ahead of them.

"What? There shouldn't be anyone down here… that's very odd." Issak pushed past Cain, and stopped to look at the faint footprints in the dust.

It looked like one person, a male by the shoe style and they had a stick or cane with them. Wordsworth was a friend of 02 and perhaps had similar thinking of using the dead one to augment the living crusnik. Luck was smiling down on them today it seemed.

"This could be a good thing… as much as I like waiting." He mused aloud.

"Oh?"

"Indeed, I believe we have a mutual acquaintance ahead who may have been thinking along the same lines as us."

"How exciting! Well let's not dawdle then, come on!" Cain danced around Issak and walked down the hallway.

Issak's black eyes glowered a moment at the flippant blond mans back.

"...come on!" Echoed down to the area William was in. He quickly moved over and grabbed his cane and froze to listen again for noise. The thump of footsteps could be heard now, two sets.

"Dammit!" William cursed under his breath and moved into the fourth room that was not directly visible from the entrance. Several boxes and larger crates were here, filled with books and maps of unknown age. He ducked down behind a larger crate, turning off his light and hoping to be as unseen as possible given the spareness of the place.

"Oh wow look at this place! No windows or anything, no wonder he's so grumpy." Cain stood in the middle surveying the main room.

"Indeed… go ahead and look around, I know what I'm looking for." Issak slowly walked into the room, he shifted back into his normal appearance, long black hair, slim black formal suit replaced the butler like look of earlier. White gloves moved about in the air until symbols appeared on the backs of them, glowing an eerie purple.

Williams blood froze as he recognized the voice, his once companion who framed him and resulted in the horrific death of dear, sweet Annabel, Williams fiancé. The chances that they were down here were astronomical… but the reason was easy enough to figure out after Abel's revival. Lilith's remains were in jeopardy.

"Well, well my old friend… how interesting to find you here of all places." He called out, cold black eyes scanning for movement. "There is no way out of here, Wordsworth. Given your age and that bad knee you should stop wondering if you could fight us… you can't."

Issak studied the doorways and then went towards the one William was in.

William stood up slowly, eyeing Issak warily.

"It seems odd to find you here as well."

"We seem to share an acquaintance, that Nightroad fellow has some unfinished business with myself and my… client."

"Ah yes, he does get around, that boy." William retrieved his cane and approached Issac. Hiding his inner rage under his deeply ingrained Albion manners seemed to be his only recourse, he was not prepared to fight Issak and whoever was with him.

"I'm glad you have decided to be civil about this, would hate to rough you up some, manners and such."

"Who is it you have with you?" William peered behind Isaaks shoulder, an eyebrow raised curiously.

He could see a tall, lanky man in the airy linen clothes that tourists normally wore looking about Rome. He was strikingly familiar in build and movement. The hair was all wrong, the face was carefree and inquisitive… somewhat similar to Abel's foolish persona.

"So they are twins."

"In all that matters, yes." Issak turned, following Willams gaze.

Cain walked forward, his hand extended to shake Williams.

"Hello, sir, I'm Cain."

William looked at him cautiously before shaking his hand. "Wordsworth."

"Delightful… now let's get the pod figured out, I fear I need to rest sooner than later."

Issak nodded and walked over to the middle room. Cain followed but hung back a little as they entered the room.

"If you try to run Wordsworth, Cain is more than capable of dismantling you… he is all that Abel could be." Issak warned.

"No offence, just luck had it you are here and we can use you." Cain chipped in.

"Use me?" Oh curiosity killed many a cat… William scolded himself mentally.

"Everyone is worth something to someone else… just takes finding the right combination ... surely you realize that as of right now you are our prisoner?"

William blinked and stepped back a little. Cain noticing the movement tsked and walked over to him, somewhat casually. "I may be a pretty face, but I'm not the Contra Mundi for nothing, I can eviscerate you as easy as I shook your hand, sir." If ever a threat given in a friendly flippant way could be more chilling, William had yet to experience. "Now, we need to get that pod open, would you kindly help us?"

"I didn't find anything on it yet before you showed up actually." He deflected.

"Take another look with Issak, you know what they say, two minds are better than one."

William eyed the young man, but seeing the slight swirl of red within the blue eyes that he shared with Abel.

He walked into the room with the pod, Issak was knelt down in front of it, studying the various controls.

"She does look markedly better than last I saw her." Cain commented, leaning in to look closely at her face.

"Beheading someone tends to be a touch messy." Issak commented offhandedly.

"I suppose… are you sure she's dead? Her neck looks healed."

"Until I open this pod I'm not entirely sure of anything with that body."

"Huh… well I could probably break the glass."

"No, that might damage the flesh, give me some time Cain." Issak gently abolished as he stood up. "A canister was removed from the pod, it had her nanomachines I presume?"

William nodded.

"02 absorbed all of that in the casket, I remember seeing that." Cain commented. "Not a drop was left behind."

"But there should still be some left in her muscles and veins… he wasn't given a hundred percent of her volume." Issak reasoned out.

"So let's take the whole thing and work on it later?"

William raised an eyebrow at this, curious how they would move the well over 500lb pod without being seen.

"It does seem to be the best option and you need to rest… ok, grab him and I'll set it up."

Issak took off his gloves and started mumbling words that William hadn't a clue what language it was. His hand gestures sped up and from the space between his hands a black circle appeared, slowly growing in size until it was close to the size of the doorway. Cain abruptly grabbed William's bicep and pushed him towards the dark circle. As William instinctively balked, Cain pushed a bit harder, tossing him inside the portal before stepping through himself.

William landed hard on a metal floor, his cane clattering loudly.

"Welcome to our place, Wordsworth." Cain said cheerfully. "Best move over to the table here… the pod needs a place to sit." He reached out, offering his hand to him.

William shook his head and slowly got himself up. He studied the dark circle, he could vaguely see Issak, who was moving the circle to the pod as if it was a hoola hoop. Issak step a leg in the circle and then slid the circle over his body and down his arm to where it held onto the pod and like a bubble, it bulged to encapsulate the pod. As it closed around it, both Issak and the pod became present in the room William and Cain stood in.

"There." Issak brushed his hands together. He looked at William, calculatingly.

"I wasn't entirely prepared to kidnap you so soon… I'm afraid the quarters are not up to your standards." His eyes flickered to the edges of the room. William turned to follow his gaze, now seeing they were in some sort of warehouse or laboratory that was quite old. A large window overlooked the assembly floor below, and to the other wall, a large tank filled with black fluid bubbled. Cases of various sizes and shapes were piled about, some looking like control boxes, others with dials and gauges. A vast array of different ancient technologies.

"You have been busy." William reflected as his eyes travelled about the room.

"I do what I can." Issak smirked briefly before lighting up a cigarillo. "You still smoking that ugly pipe?"

"Bad habits die hard."

"That they do… here." He tossed the lighter at William. Taking the hint he could have a smoke too, William went through the motions for his pipe before tossing the lighter back.

Cain had wandered off deeper into the room, likely in search of food.

"Do I need to shackle you or do you have the good common sense to know better? You are just an average human unlike most of the residents here."

"We can find out I suppose. But you have me at a disadvantage of not knowing a single thing about where we are with that trick to get here."

"Mmhmm that was handy, wasn't it? Honestly if that damned thing would have opened I would have just taken the body." He walked around, staring intently at the pod.

Williams mind was reeling between fury at being kidnapped so easily and wanting to find out all he could about what Issak was up to. It was a bit odd to have Issak be so chatty but then, he reflected back to Cain's comments and general childlike carefree mannerisms. Who wouldn't talk to themselves with a unhinged crusnik standing beside you.

Issak stopped and peered at William. "What were you looking for anyway? You're not normally the grave robber type."

"More insight to the crusniks make up, likely same as you?"

"I'm not as clandestine as that… but similar enough. For a 900 year old corpse she's in remarkable shape."

Williams eyes widened a little in surprise. Abel never did share exactly how old he was.

"Oh… he never told you his origins? Interesting. Then you don't know of Mars either?"

Silence.

Issak chuckled and took a long drag on his smoke.

"This might be more entertaining than I thought. 01s memory is a bit off due to being almost completely disintegrated when 02 kicked him out into space but he remembers Mars and their return clearly enough. In fact it was Cain that took her head in the first place, pity they didn't know she could have been saved if she had a higher concentration of nanomachines... I had to slowly cultivate 01 until he went from that black ooze to a form… very tedious process."

William looked over the pod, thoughtfully.

"You are thinking to resurrect her?"

"Hmm, not unless I need to. I'm more interested in her dormant nanomachines that should be in her flesh still."

Williams brown eyes flickered over to Issak. "I can see where you would gather that strategy. They did find the original strains in corpses… I just didn't know where the corpses were from."

"Mars, on a ship they repaired so they could return to earth. It's really an interesting story about how they came about, the four of them, perhaps another time I'll share that."

Cain walked back to where they were standing over the pod.

"I fixed up that one cell just off the ramp, blankets, some water you know, normal human things." William could see the resemblance to Abel more now as it seemed Cain had relaxed.

"Excellent, Mein Herr you do more than you should at times."

"Now, Professor it's time for you to retire for a while. Please don't make a fuss… I'm not in the mood for it tonight."

Cain stood waiting for William to follow, his eyes lacked the weight that Abel's always carried, these eyes seemed empty, the childlike demeanour a cover.

"I'll play along for now, being your such a gracious host and all."

Issak nodded, dismissing them.

"So, your a friend of Abel's?"

"Yes."

"Is he always so grumpy?"

"Ahh, well no… not really at all."

"Hmm, maybe I caught him off guard, he was so angry when he saw me, really quite rude about it."

"Hmm, well you then proceeded to blast off his head… that would upset most people."

"I suppose, but I was so excited to see him again. Tsk, it's too bad he had to fight me again."

Cain rambled on as they got to the small holding room.

"Here you go. I'll talk with you soon, ok?" He waited till William was in the room and then closed the large metal door and locked it.

Well… fine pickle this is, William mused to himself.

His cell was about a twelve by ten steel room, one small vent for air exchange… no windows. The door was quite thick from what he could see of it when he walked in. An ancient army cot, a few faded grey green wool blankets, by gosh even a pillow was provided. A small two drawer dresser sat next to it, a few bottles of water and military travel rations in their shiny silver packaging were sat inside. In one corner was a chamber pot, and a small drain.

"Perhaps I should have stopped for supper before I left…" he commented to himself before checking over the things in his pockets. He still had his few tools, his pipe and tobacco and wait...His tracking device was quietly ticking away. He sighed in relief, knowing Sister Kate would pick it up soon and send help…

Caterina was going to have his head… getting kidnapped by the leaders of the Orden, if he lived through it. William chewed on his pipe as he tried to quiet his nerves. He hoped she wouldn't try to contact Abel, between Cain and now Liliths body being here… it would destroy him and likely let him fall to his crusnik.


	19. Ch19 Church Bells Ring

It was nearing evening when Abel and Astha finished checking the neighborhood for any last Autojägers. There hadn't been much for Autojägers but there was an unfortunate number of people killed by the gas.

People were starting to filter back to their homes, clean up crews were busy at the site where the consulate had been. The area had a hushed, melancholy feel as bodies in black bags were taken away in vans.

Abel talked to a few officers and a medic about the buildings that still had bodies and potentially gas pockets.

"Whew!" Abel said as draped his coat over the back of his chair and tucked his gloves in the flopped down in the chair beside Astha and tried to stretch out his legs. His armored combat boots clanked against the legs of the table as he shuffled around till he was comfortable. She had made it back to the cafe a short while before him, needing to rest. The fatigue the sun caused was wearing her down, thankfully she had brought her UV suit and cream but there were limits. Abel would have been hard pressed if she hadn't been able to come with him. Not without transforming anyway.

Infront of her was a set of glasses filled with water, a small plate of sandwiches that she had gotten together and an envelope with money for when the cafe owner came back. She looked him over, quietly appreciative that he had stepped in when it came to dealing with the locals.

"Your experience with Terran police is handy."

He grabbed a sandwich, happy to get some food in his system. "Hmm, more like a survival skill given the amount of collateral damage that Tres and I caused. The better I was with the locals the lower the bill to Caterina usually was which meant less scolding about budgets when I got back."

"I bet!" Astha chuckled, imaging the imposing Caterina giving him a scathing dressing down.

Abel smirked ruefully and reached back to fix his ponytail, it had loosened and his hair was bothering him as he ate.

"No, let it down, if that inquisitor sees your hair in the normal fashion it could trigger him… and you did say he was there to carry your coffin."

Abel furrowed his brows a moment before pulling the ribbon off his hair. It settled about his shoulders and halfway down his back.

"It will get in my way if I have to fight."

"Then fight better."

Abel chuckled and tucked the ribbon away.

"Anything else?"

Astha hummed as she looked at him more critically while he finished his food. "Lose the glasses and gloves… that should help a lot since you also move differently too."

He nodded and took his glasses off, tucking them inside his shirt pocket. Truly, little remained of the bumbling priest; the dark blue shirt and pants that fit him in a relaxed fashion showed off his physique tastefully and his low slung double belts that criss crossed his hips. His natural grace showed more now as he had left the stumbling habit behind, he was tall and purposeful when he walked, not partially hunched and trying to be unnoticed.

"Knowing you now… it's hard to believe you were ever that fool, I must confess."

A sly smirk spread across his face, mischief in his eyes. "I could… lighten your soul if you wish to confess more?" He waggled an eyebrow suggestively.

Astha blinked at him, surprised by his suddenly flirtatious demeanour and laughed in amusement.

He grinned and took a drink of water, looking over his glass at her.

"Hmm… it's probably best you're not of the cloth anymore," she turned towards him and let sultry innuendo soak into her voice, "would hate to burden you with _all_ of my sinful thoughts."

He felt himself react to her voice, his heartbeat picking up slightly and his face warmed causing him to choke on his water. He coughed and sputtered while silently cursing himself, he latched onto something to change the topic.

"You've ah... read the bible?"

Astha grinned as she saw his flushed cheeks just before he changed the subject. "I was curious so I flipped through a copy while in Londinium. It's hard to believe a faith built so long ago is still kicking around… and no I'm not converting."

He held his hands up in front of him, placatingly.

"I'm not one to push religion… been around too long for that." He noticed he still had his gloves on and took them off, tucking them in his pockets.

"Are your… passengers behaving? We still need to check out the church."

"For now… perhaps I should have brought the vials... but the sandwiches are helping, thank you." His gaze took in her face, the dark smudges under her golden eyes and the still red blotches of skin where the sun had gotten through the cream. "And are you ok? This is a lot more than what we planned on…can you handle more?"

She smiled at his concern and reached out to touch his hand with her fingers. It was so like him to notice another's struggle she thought.

"I'm alright now, the sun will be down soon and I'll be a lot better. If that guy is at the church this is as good a time as any to be there."

He smiled in return, "well let's pitter-patter and get at 'er." At her quirked eyebrow he blushed a little. "It's a saying, honest!"

She rolled her eyes and stood up. "I see some of _that_ priest stuck."

"Can't be someone else for a decade and not absorb some things." He shrugged, grabbing their bags.

"That's fair, can't be serious and brooding all the time."

He stopped, turning to look at her, surprised.

"You have your days." She shrugged, pulling her hood up over her head. "Not as bad as you started out but it's there, perhaps it's the more real you."

He dropped his gaze for a moment, looking down at his feet. "Perhaps… I am not sure who I am anymore, a lot has happened in a short time."

She smiled and put her hand on his shoulder blade, pressing up against his arm, her head leaning on his shoulder. "It's been a lot, I agree… but I'm glad you've let me help you."

A true smile curved his lips as he looked over at her, warmth filling him at her comments.

"Thank you, Astharoshe." His voice had taken a lower, softer timbre. Golden eyes peered up at him, a slightly startled look to them. He laughed softly. "I do know _how_ to say your name, I just don't like to do it often."

She smiled and hummed as she pushed off from him to snag her bag from his hands.

"What was it you said? Patterns of pity? Pitty patty?" Knowing she got it wrong, Astha grinned and walked out into the street. Abel sputtered to correct her and explain the old Terran saying.

It took a little while and several references to the map for them to reach the church since all the taxis they could find were quite full. The roving mobs of people from the morning seemed to have died down, as the excitement of the morning faded away in the monotony of the urban life. It was nearly sunset when they reached their destination.

The area looked like it had seen better days. The church was on a decorative roundabout cul de sac with a simple stone fountain in the center, a large green space on one side and a simple cemetery on the other took up most of the cup de sac. A car had been flipped over on its side, the top riddled with bullet holes, it was half on the stone stairs to the entrance of the church.

Along the walls of the two story church was several large craters in the stone. The stained glass motifs in the shape of the cross above the doors was shattered, their beauty spilled across the entrance. The large wooden doors were splintered and one hung awkwardly as the hinge was pulled out of the frame.

Abel noticed the discarded mask of an Autojäger resting on the stairs. There were quite a few dried puddles of a black substance on the ground, putting the fighting at least a few hours past.

Everything was quiet, no signs of life. Abel could see where bodies had fallen, but the grounds had been cleared of carnage and some of the debris swept away. Something about it felt much like when they had gone to the consulate. He stashed their bags at the stair railing near the entrance.

"I have a bad feeling about this, you?"Astha muttered as she looked around, her spear held in her hands.

"Yes, it's all a bit weird and I imagine inside will be worse." Abel whispered as she came up beside him.

As they stepped over the broken threshold, the scene before them made them stop in their tracks.

A thin river of blood starkly cut along the isle, red on the pristine white stone floor. Their gaze followed the crimson trail to a man attached to a large ornamental cross above the pulpit. He was stripped to the waist and nailed to the cross at his hands and feet. A large slice to his midsection was the main source of the blood trail, the large gash weeped with each laboured breath, releasing a gush of lifeblood to the growing red river. The drape of hair from the man was a familiar blue grey..."Petros!" Abel whispered, horrified as he rushed forward, his long legs taking him to the pulpit.

" _Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death... I shall fear no evil for thou art with me... thy rod and... thy staff they comfort me_." The prayer was barely audible, the words halting in between shallow breaths.

"Quickly! We have to get him down!" Abel slipped slightly on the blood as he stopped at the pulpit. Astha moved to join him when the confessional box to the side exploded open, showering her in debris and bullets. She brought her arms up to protect her face, gripping her spear in both hands, activating a charge. She grunted as several bullets went deep into her arm and a spike of wood going into her calf making her fall as the muscle lost strength. She crumpled into a roll, using her momentum to carry her forward, the spear to balance as she got upright again.

A slight middle aged man, balding and wearing pastor robes held a machine gun, his brown eyes were terrified as his hands swung the gun to press more bullets at them. Astha let the charge go, scorching the area around the man, just missing him.

Abel turned towards the commotion, quickly drawing his gun and aiming at the threat.

"Surprise Father!" Dietrich's voice came from the pastor as he pulled the trigger, directly towards Abel's chest, knocking him back a step with the multiple bullets hitting his body and hands. His grip on his gun loosened and his shot went zinging off mark, cutting the cloth on the man's arm.

Astha growled as she lurched forward to run the last few meters to tackle the priest, knocking him over and sending the gun skidding away as well as her spear as she grappled him into a hold.

"You bitch! Don't you know when to wait your turn?" Dietrich cursed as she overpowered the woefully weak vessel he was using. "If you do this wrong it's just this poor pathetic man you're killing."

She pressed his face to the floor a little harder with her knee on his neck as her hands pinned his behind his back. She could feel blood soaking her clothes, her damaged limbs quivering from use.

"Stopping you is all I want right now."

She felt an odd sensation at her hands, like a flicker of frostbite, a hot/cold bite at the bottom of her palms, her grip weakened and she could feel the sensation spike up her arms.

"You know… I could work with this."

"Astha let go! Now!" Abel called as he leapt over the last few pews, fearing that contact would let Dietrich switch from the downed pastor to Astha.

The flicker got more intense and she jerked away.

"Dammit!" Dietrich bucked under her and rolled away, stretching out his hands for the gun. .

Abel closed in, using the butt of his gun to knock the pastor unconscious. The strike was hard enough to roll the man several times before he sprawled out.

Abel could smell the blood soaking her clothes, causing the internal roar of 02 to pound in his mind. He focused momentarily on Lilith, hoping to feel her cool 02s abhorrent hunger.

"Are you ok? I can tell you are bleeding…" he tucked his gun back in the holster on his belt.

"N-nothing life threatening..." She quickly pulled out the wooden spike from her leg. Then paused as the blood came out quickly. "Oh shit… Abel I wasn't thinking.."

He immediately stepped away and looked at the crumpled pastor, she could see him flexing his hands open and closed.

She quickly reached into her utility belt, taking out a small roll of bandages.

"I'll be quick!" A hasty few wraps over her pants to stop the blood as fast as possible, the wound just up from the other bandage she did this morning. If all went well, she would be healed up in the next half hour or so.

"Do you think that stopped him?"

"Only temporarily." He turned, moving towards her and reached out his hand. "Here, give me the roll, I'll do your arm so it's done somewhat right and quick."

"Are you sure? Could… do.. you need some?"

His eyes snapped to hers, the blue in his eyes were dark and intense, she could see the edges of his iris blurring with red.

"If it will help, I don't mind since I'm already opened up." She whispered.

"No… there's more to do and I might... might take too much… let your natural healing do it's work, since you just took pills it shouldn't take long to stop." His voice was low, he seemed to be convincing himself as much as her.

Nodding, "Fair enough." She handed him the roll and extended her left arm for him to wrap.

Abel took to bandaging her quickly overtop of her coat for now, the smell of her blood thick in his nose. Chanting in his mind Lilith's name helped him finish the task in less than a minute. The bullets had passed through her flesh cleanly enough, one in the forearm in the meaty part and one along the bottom of her bicep. Blood had run down her arm, her sleeve was a bit soggy and his hands were smeared with it from handling her arm. Abel quickly wiped the blood off on his pants to clean his hands.

"Anything else?" His eyes travelled over her.

"No.. That's it so far… what about you? He unloaded most of a clip into you."

"Takes a bigger gun than that to slow me down… Come on, Petros needs us." Abel stood up and extended his hand for her. She reached up with her right hand, gripping as he pulled her up.

She could see the bloodless bullet holes in his clothes, "No wonder you always wear black."

He quirked an eyebrow at her before he leaned over to grab her spear.

From somewhere in the church they heard the heavy footsteps of at least a dozen or so people. Their eyes met briefly in understanding.

"We don't have much time." Abel looked back at the inquisitor.

" _Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies...thou anointest my head with oil...my cup runneth... over_." Petros heavy Italian accent was very apparent now, though his voice was even softer than before.

"How did they even get him up there?" Astha asked as she stood up on the pulpit looking for a ladder or something. Turning she looked at Abel calculatingly. "Can you fly in here?"

Abel looked at Petros a moment, weighing the decision. "It's tight but I should get enough lift… there isn't much time for anything else."

"You'll be ok, you have done fine so far." She said reassuringly as she moved away to give him space.

He nodded and closed his eyes.

"Crusnik 02 activate fifty percent."

The transformation was brutally fast, his wings bursting out of his back and splaying open to their full span. His red eyes flickered to her momentarily, darkly predatory as his senses spiked at the scent of her blood in the air, on his clothes and hands. He absorbed that instantly, 02 was voracious after the barrage of bullets. Abel shook his head to get back on task… he bent his knees and then leapt up, pushing his wings to get enough lift. A few strong strokes of his wings and he was level and holding with Petros.

Moving as close as he could and he reached out to get his arms around him and the cross. The inquisitors grey blue eyes were dull and barely registered Abel.

"Tis a dark angel for me?"

Abel grunted and then heaved against the cross to pull it from the wall. The gusts of his wings scattered folded pamphlets and dust around the room as he strained against the cross. With a high pitched screech of metal on metal, it suddenly let go from its singular hook.

"Abel!" Astha cried out as she watched him crash into the far wall, wrapping his body around Petros for protection. Above them, the old church bell was shaken enough to ring twice with the impact shaking the building considerably.

They slid down the story and a half to the floor below, glass and stone scattering around them. As soon as Abel had purchase he quickly set Petros down with the cross against the floor, placing one hand on his arm and the other on the spike to pull out the cruel iron. Astha reached them as he pulled the last one out of Petros foot.

Abel looked up at her when he finished, all she could see was blood. His clothes were wet and sticking to his skin, his hands were dripping from the excess fluids on them. It was truly a gruesome sight, Astha felt herself paused in momentary panic as she took in the red eyes, dusky skin, immense black wings felt the danger she faced with the crusnik. She took a deep breath and kneeled down to help with Petros.

"Is he alive?" Astha asked as she pushed the cross out of the way while Abel lifted the unconscious man briefly before setting him back down.

"For now." The low voice of the crusnik growled out of Abel. The air of violence was heavy around him, Astha's nerves were on edge being near him as this was different than his previous transformations.

Abel rolled his shoulders as he looked around, following the sounds from both sides of the church. He flared out his wings to cover Astha and Petros as stretched out his right hand for the bone scythe to burst from his wrist,

"I'll uh… bandage him up best I can." Astha muttered grabbed the last of her bandages to wrap the inquisitors wounds.

02 was raging in Abel's mind, so much so he couldn't feel Lilith at all. Astha wasn't healing fast enough and the impending fight had 02 in a frenzy.

" _Lilith… help me."_

" _She offered blood, let us take it!"_ Lilith's voice was nearly drowned out with the roar of 02's " _ **She's**_ _**mine**_ _!"_

" _But it'll weaken her."_

" _It's necessary, Abel."_ Lilith's voice was suddenly stronger.

Astha felt Abel's fingers on her neck where the skin was exposed under her hair, she startled, feeling uneasy at the vulnerable position she was in. "A-Abel?" She looked up to see his eyes closed, then an odd slithering feeling along her skin started at her bullet wounds and up her arm to his fingers. A wave of lightheadedness hit her for a moment as she grasped what he was doing. "Are you..?"

"Yes… sorry, I… couldn't stop them... you offered… earlier and they heard." He kept his eyes closed as he strained to speak, concentrating on only absorbing what was there. He pulled his hand away suddenly, his baleful gaze snapping open, looking to the west. He stepped forward, shielding them with his body and wings.

"My, my what is this? The real Father Nightroad? Such a dark secret the church keeps!" Dietrich had switched to an Autojäger wearing Petros's heavy combat armor. Instead of a gas mask he wore a blackened glass face shield. "Ooh what I wouldn't do to try you on for size."

Behind him fifteen more Autojägers with automatic guns loaded stepped out, ready to fire. Five more stepped out from the other side of the room, flanking them.

"Oh fuck." Astha whispered, pressing the last of her bandages to Petros midsection. She looked up at Abel for a sign of what to do, but all of his attention was on Dietrich.

He stepped closer to Abel, tilting his head to the side to look him over. "I always wondered about you, ever since Istvàn." He straightened up and casually pulled the trigger, shooting Abela chest with the large caliber guns multiple blasts..

Blood and gore exploded him, he staggered back until he was standing over Astha and Petros, using his wings to cover them as he was mutilated with gunfire. Blood, feathers and bullets filled the room.

Abel roared as he straightened up and started swinging the scythe around him, with what body structure he had left. He couldn't quite reach the shooters but deflected some of the fire.

Astha couldn't move as she ducked her head down to her knees, and felt Abel brace his leg against her, immobilizing her as much as using her to help stay up. She hoped that Petros being nearly dead wasn't garnering any stray shots. Bullets pelted around them as they hit or bounced off Abel's body, she watched from her position as his blood splattered on the floor, bead up and move back to him as fast as it hit the ground. Somehow in the deafening gunfire she heard his uttered command.

"Crusnik 02 activate eig—one hundred percent."

The room became charged, static crackled in the air as full fusion occurred, Electricity sparked around, crackling along the floor and to the Autojägers.

"I'm done playing, _boy_." Abel bellowed.

He pointed the scythe and bolts of lightning scorched the wet blood as it arched towards the shooters. Body parts and debris showered down as they exploded from the high voltage, the smell of burnt flesh and ozone permeating the room. Abel looked back to the ones flanking, stretched out a hand and repeated the powerful electrocution. With the numbers considerably lessened, Abel jumped forward to slice the remainder with his scythe.

Dietrich had moved off to the side and caught only minor damage, the inquisitors armor was of remarkable quality. Seeing Abel move away was the opportunity he was waiting for and he rushed forward, firing at Astha.

Astha yelled as she grabbed her spear and shot at a small energy bolt as she jumped up, ready for his next attack. A moment later the tail of Abel's scythe snaked around Dietrich's body, lifting and shredding him open where the spine found purchase in areas not covered by Petros's armor. Dietrich still managed to fire a few random bullets as the chain pulled him backwards and to the ground. One of them hitting Astha in the thigh. She cried out as it struck, knocking her down.

"Don't mess with what's mine."

"You've always seemed the type to save the girl… Esther seemed to enjoy being saved. Now that I know your trump card… our next dance will be.. epic."

The body went limp in the bone chain as Dietrich abandoned his hold.

Abel roared and jerked the chain causing it to shred the body with the spinal spikes.

Astha shied her head away from the gruesome scene, looking back at Petros, who seemed to still be shallowly breathing. Her own wound throbbed with the awful sting of silver this time, she felt herself getting weaker. The amount of injuries she had taken was making her shake, her body unable to recoup to normal healing ability with the silver sitting deep in the muscle.

Abel's heavy breaths were closer to her now, she turned to look at him. He was his chest was bare, weeping wounds were slowly closing up from the inside, bullets pushing out like slivers...a testament to the power of the crusnik. Only an ornate golden cross on a chain seemed unscathed as it dangled from his neck. Behind him, his massive black wings had several feathers sticking out in disarray, the wingtips dragging in the black ichor that covered the floor. He glanced at her face a moment before his focus moved down to her leg.

Her eyes widened in the realization that he was at full fusion, and here she was sprawled out on the ground, bleeding.

"Abel? Hey! Are you ok?" She watched his eyes close and open several times.

" _We_ are… not. He won't let me...take. You are _mine_ and we have... need." 02 struggled to maintain dominance, having gotten the upper hand over Abel and 04 at last. He stepped closer, her sweet blood calling to them.

We? Him? She thought, puzzled for a moment. "Wait! Deactivate and I'll let Abel drink!" She remembered how he spoke of 02, being a violent and brutal entity.

"No, I will take it now!" Wings flaring out in agitation, flicking liquid as the soggy tips snapped out.

"Abel wouldn't kill me… you might."

"Not this time, you are my supply... **Mine**."

"This-this is between Abel and I." She tried to keep the panic out of her voice, striving for the calmness used when her tigers got dangerous.

"There is _no_ difference." He was towering over her prone form in a stride, he reached down grabbing her biceps and lifting her up to his chest. Her legs dangled about his hips, she winced as the bullet wound thumped against his hip. "I'll take it now."

"Abel, I know you're in there! Come on! Abel!" She struggled against the punishing grip but gained no relief. The slithering feeling was happening again… this time on her thigh, pulling her blood into his body. She could see the change in his face, gone were the features that made Abel, replaced by a sharp violent cast that was hungry and angry. The maw of fangs were bigger than she remembered, his mouth opened and snapped shut several times as he seems to be fighting an internal battle.

"I like... that you don't beg or cower." He pulled her flush against him, an arm wrapping around her and the other pulling her head to the side, exposing her neck. His long tongue licked from the base of her neck and to her jawline, cleaning off the UV cream. Something in the saliva caused her skin to rash, blood seeping to the surface instantly.

"I take little, you won't die, they won't allow it." He leaned in lapping at the blood beading along her skin. She felt a tremor vibrate through him as he licked her.

"A-Abel!" She leaned away as best she could from his mouth.

Abruptly she was at arms length, her legs swayed with the quickness of it. She watched as his eyes closed and his head shook in agitation. She hit the ground hard as he dropped her to clutch at his head, shaking it back and forth for several moments.

"Abel?"

"Crusnik 02 deactivate to zero now!" He bellowed, still clutching his head. A large shudder consumed his body as the aspects of the crusnik faded quickly, the wings pouring into where they joined his back. Abel collapsed on the stone floor, resting on his knees and elbows, silver hair pooling around him.

She could hear him taking in large gulps of air.

"A-Ast-ha." His throat was raw, his voice a raspy whisper.

"I'm ok, Abel."

"Astha… I lost con..trol… I"

"I-I know… but you came back in time."

"Barely… oh god.. it was so close.. could have lost.. killed you."

She sat up and moved to stand.

"02 called me his-yours… it wasn't my death he wanted.. I'm ok Abel… it's past now. There's still more to do."

Carefully she stood up, her left leg weak from the bullet and blood loss. Her neck throbbed and she felt wobbly and light headed.

Petros didn't appear to have taken any hits in the spray of bullets and the bandages were damp but not soaked, the deep cut to his midsection was still weeping with each breath he took though. She half sat half collapsed on the floor beside him to put pressure on the larger wound. As she looked him over, she felt the strong stirrings of bloodlust. Her body going more feral, having used up all her reserves and needing to replenish the bacillus. The fresh blood under her fingers made her swallow loudly to fight the desire to consume.

"This could get bad." She muttered, her fangs _ached_ while lengthening as she felt the adrenaline of bloodlust pump in her veins.

Petros moved his head at her words, his eyes opened just barely.

"I live?" His voice was barely a whisper.

"For now, you've lost a lot of blood and we will get you help soon."

A low grunt and he thankfully closed his eyes again, missing the red of hers.

This must be how he feels around me, she thought as she glanced at Abel's prone form wondering how she was going to control herself soon.

He had taken her blood, twice now, tasted it still on his tongue... Abel shuddered at the fresh memory of the wave of pleasure 02 had when he licked her, that gave Abel the chance to take back control. 02 marked her, claiming her as his property… his supply. The entity was more aware than he realized. He sucked in shallow breaths as his mind replayed the instant 02 took over and activated full fusion instead of eighty. His hands shook as the dread and fear pooled in his gut. The implications terrified him. He had depended on Lilith to help him… and somehow she didn't or couldn't when 02 rose up to fight, to protect the host. The fight replayed in his mind again… he did protect her as well, shielding with his wings and body to stop the bullets. At least that went well. He finally pushed up to rest on his heels, shaking his head to clear the silver locks from his face. Looking around he found her, she looked rough, her clothes were caked in blood both human and Autojäger. A large red welt could easily be seen on her neck from the acidic tongue of the Crusnik, something he didn't even know about. He shook his head, guilt wracking him for the liberties taken with her, hearing her call for him, trusting him to stop 02.

He slowly stood up, looking out the broken doorway where the setting sun spilled its him orange pink glow on him, surrounded in a hellish scene of carnage.

Astha noticed him sit up, the glow of the sunset basking his bare chest in its rosy hues. His hair long and tousled about his shoulders, reflecting the pink of the sunset. She could see him squint at the light, his glasses likely lost somewhere in the church either when he crashed or when Dietrich shot his chest open... She shuddered at the flashback in her mind, the nearly alien visage of 02 sprang in her mind as he gripped her. She shook her head and let her eyes drink up Abel's profile, imprinting his familiar features over the other, darker version. "Tovarish." She whispered absently.

He heard her whisper, he turned towards her and their eyes locked. Relief in hers clashed with the surprise and guilt of his.

"We need to get him to a doctor. I'll go grab our bags." She struggled to stand, using her spear to steady her.

"No, you stay I'll get it… you're still hurt where I am not.".

"I need my pills right away or... this could get messy.. fast."

He nodded in understanding and quickly went outside for their bags and ran back to her. He stood a few feet away as she dug around in her bag for her aqua vitae.

A few moments later he could see her visibly relax as her pills worked. She dug around in her bag again and brought out the communicator.

Abel moved closer to Petros, checking his pulse and looking over the wounds.

"Hopefully you don't remember anything from this." He muttered softly, wishing he could be so lucky… giving his head a shake he pushed the whole incident back in his mind to be dealt with later, Astha needed him now.

"Ambulance should be here soon."

He nodded and got back up, moving to the remains of the body still wearing Petros armour. He cringed as he looked over the brutal damage he caused the body, seeing the gouges even in the Inquisitors extremely tough gear. Kneeling down he worked at taking the armor off knowing Petros would want it back.

"Should we stay here for the authorities?" Astha asked as she watched him, she felt a bit better but still unsteady.

Abel looked around the church, or what was left of it… black dead blood mixed with the cool congealing river of Petros's blood. A large putrid pile of electrocuted bodies at each side of the room, limbs strewn about from the carnage.

"Perhaps not... this will take a _lot_ of explaining unless your Empire pass works wonders."

"I don't think we are that powerful here."

He grunted, picking up the armor pieces. "I didn't see his spear… he will be upset about that but let's set him on the steps for the ambulance."

"What about the pastor?"

"Right… should grab him too."

Abel carried Petros outside, setting him gently on the ground in a recovery position with the stomach wound up. Abel set his armour beside and around him to help support his body. Then went back and brought out the still unconscious pastor to rest him nearby. A large purple bruise marred the back of his head and neck.

Astha joined him after she reapplied the lotion and flicked up the hood of her coat to protect her from the last rays of sunlight.

"Are you sure he's still alive?"

"I may have hit him harder than I intended."

"May have?" She arched an eyebrow.

He shrugged, feeling guilty for the pastor.

She rested on the stair rail and cocked her head sideways a bit. "You should look for your glasses. I've never seen you squint so much and I don't see where they would be on you, given the state of your clothes."

Abel looked down, almost surprised at his half naked self."Ah… yes. Good point."

Bemused she watched him rush back into the church. While she waited she checked again on Petros, who seemed to be doing remarkably well considering… perhaps he was augmented? Noticing he was cool to the touch, she set her bag down and pulled out a thin purple cloak to drape over him.

The pastor was alive and breathing but she questioned how long, given the severity of the probable concussion. Part of her wondered if the man would be better off dead, the terror of being possessed to do horrible things may have broken him more than Abel's pistol whip did.

She let out a large sigh. Today had been exhausting.. so much happening for both of them, she thought. Her gaze drifted over the church, the dusk light casting a cool shade over its damaged walls. Being faced with the crusink, feeding it… she didn't know how she felt about it, would need some time to digest it.

The church was becoming gloomy and it took Abel a little while to find his glasses in the rubble of stone from his crash into the wall. Professor wasn't kidding when he said he made these extra tough, they were unscathed from what he could tell.

The building was much worse for wear now… and the smell was atrocious. Looking around he shook his head and the destruction, the city had lost a place that should have been a safe haven for the people.

"Do we stay?" She asked when he returned. He shrugged and sat down on the stairs a little ways away.

"Give Seth a call… her authority might help here, the pastor otherwise might get charged for the crimes here he didn't truly commit."

Astha nodded and took out the communicator again. Abel dug around in his bag for a shirt given it was getting cold out with nightfall.

Because their luck was all but ran out, the ambulance pulled up as Astha was having trouble getting a connection to the Empire.

A young paramedic darted up the stairs to them, his trained eye taking in the scene.

"Who is most serious here?"

Abel pointed at Petros. "He's suffered blood loss, punctuated hands and feet and likely internal damage as well. He has had consciousness till recently. He is Petros Orsini, Chief of the department of Inquisition. That's his armor, he will want that with him."

"Uh… ok, thank you." He turned and whistled at the truck, three more men came out to assist in taking Petros to the ambulance.

The young man came back up, looking now at the pastor. "And him?"

"I don't know who he is, head trauma and he will likely have some psychological problems when he wakes… if he does."

The young man nodded, kneeling down to check the pastors vitals as he waited for the others to bring the other gurney.

Once they were gone with the gurney, the young man turned towards Abel and Astha. His stance changed to a bit more wary.

"You're not going with them?" Abel asked.

"Not yet sir. We've called another truck since they are critical and you both seem less pressing...now," the man looked Abel and Astha over. "Who are you two? And is anyone else in the church?"

Abel shifted a bit and looked at the paramedic, reading his name tag. "Patrick, the church is empty of life. You don't want to go in there… believe me."

Patrick looked over at the building, the damage and then over at Astha. She was disheveled, several poorly done bandages, blood stained clothes and what looked like another wound in her thigh not yet treated… but she wasn't acting that distressed. Her hood was up so he couldn't discern her features in the fading light but the full body covering and disregard for her wounds gave him a good idea of what he was dealing with.

"We are on good terms with the Empire, ma'am… I have treated va-methuselah for minor wounds before. That wound is not closing up for you." His oath to help the wounded prompting him to offer aid. "Do you want help?"

She looked at Abel, he wasn't a good option for taking the silver bullet out and it was hurting a lot.

"I am Duchess Astharoshe Asran, be mindful please. I have a silver bullet in my leg… and I did take my pills so your safety is secured."

Patrick grabbed his medic bag and motioned for her to sit on the ground. He quickly set out his tools, and put a small headlamp. She looked over at the silver haired man for a moment before complying.

He set the tourniquet on her leg and cut the cloth around the wound.

"Sir, could you come sit behind her and act as a restraint? This might hurt and I don't want her to move to much… if that's ok Duchess?"

The man took a deep breath before coming over. Patrick could see that both of them were uneasy with the proximity to each other.

"I will be as fast as possible but pain meds don't work on your kind."

The man nodded and knelt down behind her, propping her up against his chest and wrapping his arms around her to hold her hands cross crossed over her chest. Patrick nodded in approval, the man seemed to know what was needed. A quick antiseptic wash and he worked at getting the bullet out. Vampires didn't take pain medication like humans… unfortunately and she flinched while he worked..

"It missed anything vital. Only another moment and I'll have it out."

She sighed as the silver left her system, and slumped against the man. The amazing healing ability of the vampires had already started knitted the flesh before he undid the tourniquet.

"Do you want me to check the other ah… bandages?"

"No, they are older and will be gone soon."

"Here, I have a small bottle of antibiotics given the uh... state you're in the wounds could be infected."

Patrick looked at the man after he disposed of the tools used on the Duchess and set out the pill bottle of antibiotics. He looked tired, his hair seeming to hide a good portion of his face. He didn't appear to be hurt anywhere in comparison to her, and his shirt was fresh unlike his pants which were dirty and torn in places. He couldn't quite see his eyes behind the glasses and long hair but given he was with her he had to be a vampire too.. except he wasn't protected from the sunlight..

"I take it you are Methuselah as well, sir?"

"I am well, thank you." He was looking down at the woman, cautiously, having released her arms and was gingerly supporting her. "She will be fine in a few hours… perhaps another dose of the blood pills will help."

The man nodded and moved away from the Duchess.

"Thank you Patrick. Are the police still coming?"

"Eventually… radio said it's pretty chaotic in the rougher parts of the city tonight given the day we've had."

Abel laughed, getting a confused look from the young man.

"Sorry… it's just we fully understand how bad the day has been. If your higher ups need more information about what's… left of the church, it was the same man as the consulate bombing. The Rosenkreuz Orden is responsible for this."

"Oh… a buddy of mine was at the other site… he mentioned a grey haired guy, was that you?"

"Most likely."

"You have my deepest thanks for helping them avoid the gas pockets. Truly ugly scene all around." Patrick looked out to the street and back to them. "Do you guys have transport? Lodgings?"

Astha shook her head, "we haven't had time to work that out yet."

Patrick patted his pockets until he found his wallet, he picked out a card, handing it to them.

"It's quiet and accommodating for those who are… allergic to sunlight," he smiled. "My aunt runs it. When the truck gets here it's on the way back to the hospital, I'll drop you off nearby, as a thanks."


	20. At the Heart of the Problem

The short trip to Patrick's Aunts place was an unwelcome break for Abel. Now that Petros was safely away at a hospital, he was left to his thoughts. Looking out the window, unseeing as he reflected upon the last few hours...first day out in the field and the beast, filthy damnedable monster takes over. All Abel could see in his mind was how he manhandled her, holding her in that punishing grip and the lascivious licking of her skin with 02 finding perverse pleasure in the act. He clenched his hands so tightly the knuckles turned white, anger boiling in his gut at himself, at 02 and Dietrich.

Astha covertly looked over at him, things he had feared had come to pass... Would he let her stay with him? Or would he disappear as a half starved crusnik to fight Cain and possibly losing himself to his twin because of... her. She noticed his hands in tight fists, the strain he was exerting starkly evident. Her gaze went down to her own hands having nothing to say and feeling more offblance seeing his fists. It wasn't long before they were stopping in front of a larger property on a quiet street.

"Here you two go, I gave Aunt Marie a heads up to prepare a room for you and see about some food, I hope you don't mind." Patrick smiled warmly at the bedraggled pair. "Again, thank you for your help today. I'll check in on your friend and send an update to my aunt in the morning.

"Thank you for your generosity, Patrick. It's most unexpected and very appreciated." Astha said as she got out of the truck and reached out to shake his hand. Abel was a little slower coming around the truck and then he too shook hands in thanks and farewell to the young paramedic.

"Sweet Dreams Inn." Was painted on a sign set on the archway garden entrance that when they stepped through exposed a one story building with what looked like four or five rooms along its length. White painted wood with blue trim and little flower beds holding out their last blooms of the year sat beside the doors to each room making them look so quaint and inviting.

They walked up to the first door that had "welcome" painted across it, and knocked.

A stout older woman opened the door, dressed in a simple cotton green dress and a pink knitted shawl around her shoulders. Her hair was light brown mixed with grey and bright green eyes twinkled from her tanned, aged face.

"Hello! You must be the two Patrick was dropping off!"

"Ah.. yes Patrick brought us here, Ma'am." Abel stepped forward, easily cloaking himself in the fool persona that always worked so well with people. He smiled shyly and held out his hand.

"I am Abel, and this is my friend Astha.. I do hope we are not imposing, Patrick quite insisted you could help us."

She smiled warmly and grabbed his hand with both of hers to shake. "Oh no, Patty always brings me people he knows need help and who've helped him out somehow. He's such a good kid, sees right to the root of the problem… that most people don't get enough kindness. By the way I'm Marie." She shuffled back and allowed them into the room, reaching out to hold Astha's hand in the same manner as she did Abel's before closing the door behind them

"Set your bags near the door put your boots on the tray and coats on the hanger in the corner. A small sink is there to wash up with. Then go ahead and take a seat at the table… I've got some nice cabbage rolls on the stove and I always make too many for myself." She wandered off to presumably the kitchen.

They did as they were told and settled in at the table.

"Maybe we should put our boots outside… they've seen a lot of um.. substances today." Astha commented, crinkling her nose at the aroma that seemed to fill the room.

Abel couldn't help but chuckle at her expression. "I'm afraid that won't help. I'm guessing the menu tonight is cabbage rolls… have you ever had them?"

"Hrm no, I don't even know what a cabbage is."

"You'll either like them or hate them… there's no middle ground."

She arched an eyebrow at him when their host returned with plates.

"Another moment please, while I get the table set then we can eat. It's my great grandma's recipe for cabbage rolls you know."

"That sounds amazing already, and again thank you for your hospitality Ma'am." Abel kept shifting in his chair, trying to find room for his long legs to rest without bumping his knees on the table or having his feet in the walkway.

She clicked her tongue, "Mr. Abel you are a lot taller than my normal crowd, so you'll have to mind your feet or I may trip. Oh… and there's no garlic in this for those of the… bitey persuasion. It's beef, tomato, rice, cabbage and a few spices but no garlic… I'm actually allergic to it too so it all works out." She commented before disappearing back into the kitchen.

"Garlic? What's wrong with garlic?" Astha looked at Abel, confused.

He smirked, "old vampire lore believed that garlic, holy water and sunlight harmed vampires. People would wear or hang garlands of garlic to repel vampires."

"That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard." She looked at him incredulously.

"It's true, in pre Armageddon time the humans believed it."

"Well it doesn't work on Methuselah."

"Of course not, you are _far_ more sophisticated to be burned by a stinky plant." He grinned again.

"It seems there was a lot of odd things pre Armageddon."

"You have no idea."

Marie barged in just then, large crock pot in her hands.

She scurried over and set it carefully on the table.

"I'll bring in some lemon water and then we can eat."

The meal was a simple affair, Marie chattered on about the bombings and what the news anchors were speculating happened. Then she went into detail about the small Inn, how had she ran it for thirty years and loved the people she could help.

Astha had initially balked at the rolls but slowly got over the strong flavours. Glancing at Abel showed that he had no problem eating them, which didn't surprise her at all, the glut. Knowing him better, she could look past the fool facade and see the strain as he pushed the days trials behind him, playing the happy guest to perfection.

"I have no dessert tonight… but if you stay a second night I'll whip up something yummy."

"That sounds fantastic, though I don't know yet what our plans are." Astha commented, rising out of her chair. "And on that note we really should get our rest… it has been an eventful day."

Their host looked a bit embarrassed. "Oh my land! I have been the worst, you poor souls have indeed had a day and here I am keeping you from your beds." She got up and rushed over to a small cabinet, grabbing a set of keys. "Suite 104 has two beds as I wasn't sure of your… uh… arrangements per say."

Abel got up as she pressed the keys into his hand.

"Thank you Ma'am. It's been a treat to sit with you, refreshing really." He smiled warmly and patted her hand, easing her anxiety.

She smiled as she took her hand back and then looked at them both.

"Ok, out with you two. Water tanks are full so wash up and sleep well. I'll have tea and coffee on at eight."

"I can't wait for that shower… I don't remember being this grimy in a long time." Astha commented once they were in their quaint little room. Inside, the walls were a soft sage green with the baby blue carpet and the furnishings in soft butter yellow. A small couch, side tables and a TV were in the main room. A washroom and one bedroom with two double beds completed the suite.

"I can wait, go ahead and enjoy the water." He said as set his bag down in the bedroom.

"Once we are both a bit more uh... settled we need to talk." Astha popped her head around the bathroom door, worry in her golden eyes as he had his back to her.

"I know." he said barely loud enough for her to hear.

He waited till he heard the door close before he stripped down to his underwear, and grabbed the housecoat that was draped over the bed. It was a little short, coming to his knees.

"So much for nice clothes… yet again." He mused aloud as he stuffed his destroyed pants in his laundry bag and set his glasses on the nightstand.

He stretched out on the coverlet, crossing his ankles and leaning back over the pillows. In his hands he fiddled with the textures of Lilith's cross as his mind raced.

They had talked about it the evening Seth had brought him the extra blood, to try to manage without daily dosing… He should never have let her talk him into not bringing the extra vials… she was so sure things would be ok, that if he needed more it would be a simple thing to solve... The stubborn woman didn't really understand what she was getting into, thinking that they would have time to see the signs before he would take from her.. though to be fair… there were no warnings of how today could have gone. Astha had to take several pills to keep herself in strength after the sunlight, poison gas and injuries she took, and he had been ok until church, the amount of lead he ate today was rather high… He shook his head sadly.

What had changed for 02 to take over? It wasn't a verbal entity at the best of times and all this "mine" business, he didn't understand this possessiveness. Normally at high activation against methuselah 02 was savage at getting the chance to rip and tear, absorbing the blood as fast as possible. Here he had paused, spoken to her and somehow caused a reaction with his saliva to get her blood without biting. He wished he could remember more of what was said but all he had were blips of awareness, sensations and the word Mine... What did it mean? And why? Lilith said she had worked it out with 02, and until now had been the dominant presence… Lilith was the lesser percentage of nanomachines, did 02 push her back? God he hoped not... Perhaps when he slept she would contact him... if she could?

Abel sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose for a moment and then rubbed his eyes. His head hurt and while the food had helped, just thinking about her brought back the underlying thirst to have more of her blood… maybe it was because it was so fresh, and she had taken supplements to aid her system that hers had seemed better, the small amounts he took in were more satisfying than any of the blood he had taken in since Londinium… because having _more_ reasons to want her was something he needed.

They had to get her back to the Empire before anything worse happened to her… He'd live on old donated blood or whatever else he could get on the search for Cain, anything to not harm her again like that… Abel sighed once more, looking about the room, listening to the sound of the shower running. Soon she would be out, and perhaps she would look at him with guarded eyes, having had time to really process the whole thing. While he didn't expect the levels of shock Esther had suffered from, being that Astha had some idea of what the Crusnik was capable of... he still expected at least some leeriness from her. She had put on a brave face, played along with the paramedics and the innkeeper as he strove to ignore the elephant in the room between them...

The sound of running water had always been soothing to him and after a few minutes Abel's eyes slid closed from exhaustion, his head tipping forward and tilted to the side as he drifted off to sleep.

Astha stood under the spray, enjoying the deliciously hot water on her battered body. Her arm and leg wounds were but puffy buttons on her skin now. As she went through the motions of washing her hair, the soap suds burned where 02 had licked her. Closing her eyes she could see him move towards her neck, almost hear the snap of his teeth as Abel fought for control… Shaking the images away she took a steadying breath and resumed her shower.

His fear of what 02 could do…he apparently had good reasons for all of his warnings and his wariness when she had insisted she could handle it. Thinking she knew what she was dealing with and then experiencing it was so vastly different... When he had activated before, she was prepared for it as he had made the situation optimal… more like a preview, a best case scenario but what she witnessed at the church was messy and brutal. What should have only been a way to get Petros down became the start of the increasing demands on his body. Had they known what was to happen at the church, would they have waited a day? She mulled that over as she worked conditioner into her hair.

No, Petros would have died, resulting in a fallout between the Empire and the Vatican…Abel wouldn't let that happen. Their efforts today had stopped the ambush at the consulate and while they did walk into the trap at the church, Petros still lived and Dietrich was gone for now. All it had cost them was Abel's clothes and his shaky confidence in his control of the crusnik. And her? Some blood and being face to face with 02, having Abel at both low and full activation take the blood from her wounds. She paused... _did_ she fear him now, having truly seen the monster within? She had been in the proverbial jaws of his beast and walked away… this time.

Finishing up her shower and turning off the water, she rolled the question around her mind. What did she feel for him? Where did she stand with him? A soft sigh puffed out while she dressed in her button up shirt and shorts sleepwear.

"So many questions… so few answers." She muttered to herself as she tidied up, coming across the medical supplies Seth had given her to help Abel. "10cc should be enough." Seth had advised. Would he feel better if she gave him some willingly? Or would he be angry that she offered? She hummed quietly looking at the syringe.

What was she doing? Was she really ready to bleed for him, risk 02 taking over again to drink her dry? This was more dangerous than her tigers… a being made to feed off her kind specifically. Her golden eyes flickered up to her reflection in the mirror and she could see the pink welt left by his tongue, from collarbone to just under her earlobe. Touching it gingerly her thoughts plunged on. That was but a taste of what could happen… though 02 had said several times that he wouldn't kill her because they wouldn't allow it, cognizant enough to tell her he would only take some blood… That alone made it seem that 02 understood the concept of her being available to supply him, and he was possessive of that. She wondered if Abel had noticed the difference? Perhaps things would actually go better now knowing a bit more about 02's reaction to her… nodding to her reflection, Astha felt a bit more confident again and knowing what she had to do.

She reached in the bag and took out what was needed to fill two of the vials for him. Carefully resting them beside the taps so he couldn't miss it, she left the bathroom.

When she walked into the bedroom she saw him stretched out on his bed, long legs crossed at the ankles, white housecoat barely covering to mid thigh, hands were relaxed around his cross on his lap and his face was in soft repose as he dozed. An almost painful ache in her chest was bloomed as she looked over his features, the question of fearing him feeling so wrong now… she cared for him as her Tovarish, and today of showing her more of what he struggled with, and why his ultimate goal to stop Cain and the Orden was so necessary... He carried such heavy burdens without complaint, only shadows of sadness and guilt in his gaze were evident when he was unguarded. She only hoped she could ease his load, to give the man underneath it all some relief, a compassionate ear and a comforting embrace.

In his slumber the strain of the day melted away, relaxing the crease between his eyebrows, the tightness at the corners of his eyes and the twitch of his jaw muscles. His chest was partially exposed with his long hair draped over his right shoulder and tucked slightly under his chin. The angles of his face were hollow compared to normal, the muscles she could see were sinewy and flat as if he was dehydrated. She blinked as she figured out that it was the toll his body took to power the crusink. It triggered the memory of when she had watched him sleep before the ship was shot down and how even then she had noticed he was underweight. It made sense now as he was still recovering and lacked enough bacillus virus, which he had since learned that he needed a steady supply to power himself at the full fusion level. Her decision to do the vials felt more like the right choice for them both as she studied him. She shook her head to clear the wet bangs out of her eyes and loosely crossed her arms under her breasts as she stood against the doorframe.

He seemed so peaceful that a few more minutes wouldn't hurt. The man had been through so much and always chose to protect when destruction was easier. The carnage at the church had been a glimpse of what he could do… and had done in the wars if what her history books described was even half true. He had pulled that cross off the wall, using his body to take the impact so that Petros didn't get hurt further… taking the bullets because no other option was viable when surrounded by the Autojägers... He gave so much of himself, literally, to others when he was transformed. A monster wouldn't do that, being self sacrificing was because Abel was in there, it was Abel's influence showing. How could she run away or fear a man like that? No, she felt deep down that her choice to help him was the path she needed to walk and that he was worth the trouble… now to convince him of that, to show him in the only method he seemed to be unable to dodge her.

He must have felt her gaze subconsciously, as his eyes cracked open, looking about the room before settling on her as she leaned against the doorframe.

"Astha? Everything ok?" He asked, his voice thick as he roused himself to sit up, causing the robe to slide off his shoulder.

"Yes, Tovarish it is."

Abel blinked a few more times, picking up on the warmth in her tone. She was leaning on the doorframe wearing a simple white button up shirt and shorts. Her arms were crossed in front of her, causing some stress to the top buttons… he looked higher and saw the pink welt at her neck.

"It's still there.." His voice was just above a whisper, disbelief in his tone.

"It is, but it's fading. The rest of my wounds are nearly gone and by morning none will remain, I was lucky that the worst I had were flesh wounds." She pushed off the frame and went to the vacant bed beside his, dropping her bag on the floor near the headboard and sitting cross legged on the bed. "How are you doing?" Her voice was soft, filled with concern.

"I'm… here. Physically exhausted for sure and I'll be for a little while I guess." He shrugged the robe back up a little, and turned to rest on his hip and elbow, facing her, "I am lost on how to explain today but we should return to the Empire right away… before I harm you further. I… I can't have that happening again to you." He looked down at the floor, knowing she wouldn't like the suggestion.

"I'm stronger than you think… and I don't believe you're truly a danger to me, Abel. 02 was mindful… could have easily done me in but stated clearly he wouldn't. I think that we've discovered something about 02 that will make things easier for you going forward."

"You have more faith in me than you should… I just don't understand you." His wintery blue eyes looked up to hers, searchingly. "Why? Why don't you run the other way? I am unable to control that beast.. you're filled with something it wants, craves… How can you sit there like nothing bad happened today?"

She pushed off her bed and sat on the edge of his. His expression becoming more wary the closer she got. He shifted to move away and she reached out and put her hand on his shoulder, the other on his cheek.

"Wha-what are you doing?! Astha! Please don't touch me… if-" she placed a finger in a shushing motion on his lips. Her eyes traveled over his handsome face, seeing the panic in his eyes.

"I'm ok, see? Relax, I have put my life in your hands and you haven't let me down. In the midst of the worst you stood over me to take the wounds for _me…_ you bled For _me_. You've done it for others and you'll do it again. I can sit here, within your reach knowing that _you_ are you." She removed her hand from his lips, reaching up and caressing his cheek with her thumb, her long fingers cradling his jaw. Her other hand slid off his shoulder and matched the other on his face.

"Tovarish, we _can_ do this. The first steps are always the hardest, I have been told many a time, and this is no different. I don't know how else to show you that it will work out. 02 is aware of your wish to not consume me, this _will_ work as he now has a ready source... I can get you to Cain, we can do this."

Abel listened to her words, the soothing scent of lavender and mint wafting over him as she caressed and cradled his face. Her golden eyes were so close showing him her honesty with no fear or hesitation to be seen. Slowly his panic faded as he felt no stirring from 02. He was surprised when she leaned forward and rested her forehead on his.

"If you go after Cain alone and become half starved I fear you will fail… and I don't want to lose you. What are a few pints of my blood to losing your life and giving him the last piece he needs to wreck our world?" Her voice was a soft whisper, her breath mixing with his.

"I.. I..how can you be so sure?"

Astha shifted back a little to let her eyes search his. She reached out a little more with her hands, letting her thumbs slide along his jaw and her fingers on his neck. The warmth of her hands was soaking into him, languid heat that soothed him more than he ever imagined.

"You wanted a confession earlier today… here is one of them." A soft smile crossed her face briefly, "I have come to care for you, Abel Nightroad. That is why I have so much faith in you. You are worthy, monsters and all of my trust."

His jaw slackened in surprise, then she leaned in, pressing her plush warm lips against his in a gentle kiss.

He closed his eyes as the pleasurable warmth of her swept over him. Her hands moved to cradle the back of his head, lightly tangling in his silver locks but she didn't increase the kiss, waiting for him. A heartbeat more and he pressed back, indulging in the want to feel her lips on him… tasting the skin of the forbidden apple of Eden. He leaned back to end the kiss even as he wanted more… craved to feel more with her… but under it all he was still the vampire to her race and he couldn't trust himself with her so close, so trusting and so vulnerable. He almost reached out to her as she pulled back at his cue, feeling the cool air where her hands had heated his skin moments before.

"Astha…" he whispered softly, as he looked into her eyes of molten gold. Her tender acceptance of his left him reeling. She wasn't trying to entice him, only show him her trust with that kiss… the stubborn woman had figured out that touch was a way to communicate with him that he couldn't ignore. Abel coughed slightly and adjusted his bathrobe that had fallen more open.

Her damp ivory hair with the auburn red streak angling over her left eyebrow was tousled from towelling, giving an alluring backdrop to her beautiful face. He looked down at her mouth, his lips tingling and sensitive from hers.

An uncharacteristically shy smile spread across her lips as she noticed his gaze. "I wasn't sure how else to show you… that I'm not afraid of you and the crusnik." She went back to sitting on her bed again. "Now it's your turn to wash up. I'll contact Seth to brief her on our day."

"Right… good plan, I'll be back in a bit." Truthfully he was glad to take the escape from her, unsure of how to proceed.

As he stepped into the shower, her confession burned in his mind, he wasn't sure he wanted her to care for him… that she trusted him monsters and all, as Abel didn't even trust the crusnik and they had been cohabitating for over nine hundred years. He hadn't let himself develop feelings for another past platonic camaraderie since Caterina found him more than a decade ago. With Astha, he noticed her in ways he didn't want to, shouldn't want to really. He enjoyed watching her, learning her movements and quirks. But what would it matter if he was to press this… this attraction when he feared for her life. This was such a dangerous line they walked already and his heart twisted at the possibility of her dying by his own stained hands.

Full fusion had obviously altered the division between crusnik and host and with two entities it was even more complicated... 02 being possessive of a supply as Astha kept pointing out and Abel's own desires for her seemed mixed.

He finished his shower and was drying his hair when he noticed the vials sitting innocently by the sink. He froze as it registered what it was, he closed his eyes waiting for the surge of the crusnik to come, and come it did. One of the lights shorted out, the rest flickering momentarily. A few slow breaths and things settled down so that he could set his brush down and grab the vials.

Why? Was all he could think of as he turned it over in his hands, watching her blood slide and slosh within the glass. The more he looked at it the stronger the craving to drink became until finally he unstoppered it. His nostrils flared at the smell, 02 clamored to activate, pushing the nanomachines hotly in his veins. Abel shook his head a moment before tipping it back, letting the heady substance coat his tongue and slide down his throat. Fresh and taken orally was always the quickest way to feed the Crusnik. Abel's veins were hot and tingly for a moment as absorption occurred, 02 wasn't waiting for the blood to be digested normally, barely down his throat and a burning sensation much like severe heartburn happened. A moment later Lilith's cool touch trickled along his veins, giving him relief.

"Oh thank god you're in there." He mumbled aloud.

He closed the vial and set it back down. Looking in the mirror, his eyes flickered red a few times before staying the familiar blue. He opened the second one, now that the initial feeding was absorbed this one would go down easier.

Already he could see the improvement to his body, improved muscle fullness making the hollows of his face fade. The nanomachines had been heavily taxed rebuilding his entire chest cavity and wings when he took that barrage of bullets. A steadying breath and he set the second one down.

She truly was trying to help him, at every turn she met his issues and pushed past them. If only he could trust like that… but he knew his fears for her safety were valid no matter what she thought. One as damned as he didn't deserve her. He needed to push her away… before it got worse, before feelings stronger than desire and friendship develop between them both..

He quickly finished up his nightly routine, pulling on his light blue cotton pajamas as sadness settled in his chest. He sighed and grabbed his things, not wanting to say what needed to be said.

She was just closing the communicator when Abel walked in. He looked a lot better, but his eyes were guarded and he looked tense.

"Seth wants us back tomorrow unless we can find clues to where Dietrich is at… which I don't have any clue how we could find him."

"Tomorrow is fine, we need to get back as I'm sure he's gone back underground until he can cause trouble somewhere else."

"Ok, I'll arrange that in the morning with transport. So… do you feel better?" She put the communicator away and went back to sitting cross legged on her bed.

Abel walked over and sat on his bed, facing her but looking down at his hands.

"Your trust in me… I am humbled by it, but… it scares me, Astha. I have killed your kind, I rely on your kind to power the nanomachines in my veins... You are like a lamb in front of the wolf with its neck stretched out… how long till my teeth rip your flesh, and there is nothing you or I can do to stop it?"

"Abel, that's a-"

"No! It's exactly what is going on here… the vials you left me are potent and filling." Anger was in his voice now, "I'm more satisfied by it than any I've gotten from professor or Seth…now that I've tasted it, the crusnik craves it… if we get in a fight where I'm decimated like earlier, what will stop 02? I barely stopped him, that rash could have been a bite so deep your bones would have shown" he shuddered at the image.

"The crusnik recognized me as the supply, and any creature will protect its food source. 02 was aware of your want to keep me alive… It's what I meant earlier about how things will go easier."

"Easier because you're within hands reach for a snack? How can you be ok with this? Why let me _use_ you like this?" He looked up to meet her eyes, his angry ones clashing with hers. Neither of them noticed the flicker of the lights as Abel got more infuriated.

"Because I'm capable of more than just that! And again, what are a few pints of my blood compared to the good you can do when you stop Cain? The Orden is itching to start a war, the Vatican is a pile of self righteous gunpowder waiting for any spark… and it's the Empire is who will pay for it in the end… we will be pushed back further."

"What if I don't go after him? I've hidden for centuries before, I could do it again."

"You wouldn't do that and we both know it Abel." She snapped.

"But it would keep me from killing you!" He yelled, slamming his fist down on his leg. "I have killed so many, done so much wrong, and I don't want to add you to the count!

The silence between them crackled with tension.

"And don't say it won't happen, Astha, I've known this monster a long time!"

"That was almost a millennium ago Abel! We don't live on maybes and what if's, that's not a life either of us want."

"Then why are you so willing to do this? Here you are with vials of your blood and arguing with me about how I _maybe_ won't end up doing what I do best… killing vampires. I lived amongst humans, had an android as my main partner in combat because they never had to worry about me _eating_ them!"

"This was our first trial by fire, something went wrong sure, but what real damage did we take? None, except that there was a change in your activation and I lost a few ounces. I'm arguing because it's not enough to make me leave, no one else can help you like I can. The Vatican has left you, and while you are enhanced, you are still a human, filled with flaws and problems. Stop running away from everyone. You shouldn't go against one of the biggest threats to our world since the wars, alone… that is why I am here and I'll stay here as it's the right thing to do…" she huffed a little to catch her breath. "Perhaps you can relate to that feeling more than what my trust means."

She saw him flinch, knowing the last few words cut.

He was quiet for a few moments, his eyes focused on his hands, as he flexed his fists, calming down or getting more angry she wasn't sure.

"You wouldn't stay behind even if I left, would you? Even with orders from Seth… you're that committed to this?" His voice was low, and had the steely edge of his anger still strong in it.

"You already know the answer."

"God dammit… I don't know how this will play out but I'd rather know where you are then have him get a hold of you… I may just be a man full of more flaws than most… but you are safer with me then being taken by Cain." He took a few deep resigned breaths. "Astha, you terrify me like no one else ever has… I don't know if I should keep you close or push you away. And you sure as hell don't listen to me, stubborn to a fault and foolhardy. But, " he looked into her eyes, his gaze softening, "I can only hope your trust isn't misguided as I can only aspire to be who you think I am."

A soft smile came to her lips, tentative of his words.

"Thank you… my Tovarish."

"Thank me when it's over, since we are barely started on this journey."

A grin tweaked her smile and she nodded. "Fair enough."


	21. Close Quarters

A/N - sorry this is so short and I'm late posting. had some life happen here that is slowly getting sorted.

thanks again to you that read this fanfic, i truly enjoy comments and checking the tracker ;)

~WPR

If there was one thing William Walter Wordsworth didn't do well, it was boredom. His 'luxury' accommodations were well studied, every panel of metal, screw and bolt checked to see if he could find some opening. And the food… he shuddered at the powdery chalk the old army rations attempted to call food. Being a prisoner was bound to be a hardship but perhaps bread and water would have been preferred.

His poor pipe stem had never been chewed on with such dedication as he stewed over the current state of his affairs. While at first he had garnered some comfort in his foresight to have his transmitter on, that glimpse of hope died out as he realized it was no longer working. Sister Kate must be in a state by now trying to find him, as her records would have him last at the catacombs… at least he hoped she had noticed his disappearance.

Cain seemed to be looking after him, or the only other one that knew where he was being kept anyway. It was still a bit unsettling to have a familiar face look at him with a foreign gaze and a capricious behavior after having known Abel in his more serious moods when not emulating the fool persona… perhaps Cain was where he learned the cues from his past.. Perhaps at the molecular level they were the same but that was where it ended as far as William could tell. In the conversations they had, Cain was easily distracted and would randomly go off topic. He was one of the worst cases of ADHD William had ever seen in his career as a Professor, honestly. The only real topic Cain wanted to talk about was Abel, which William found to be off putting given Cain had shot Abel dead a month ago.

William looked up from staring at his less than fascinating shoes when he heard the door open.

"Wordsworth, a moment of your time?" Issak walked in, leaving the door open behind him.

"I have nothing but time given the situation."

"Well, there is that." Issak leaned on the wall and took out a cigarillo. "I suppose you have been a bit conservative with your pipe… want a light?"

Raising an eyebrow slightly William nodded, digging out his pipe and shrinking bag of tobacco.

Once both men had their smokes worked out, Issak motioned for them to leave the cell.

"From what I remember of you, I'm sure a short walk would be appreciated."

"That's quite high of you, thanks." William grabbed his cane and went ahead of Issak till they were standing in the long dimly lit hallway.

"Oh, by the way any electronic device you may have had on you fried in the portal if you're wondering." Issak gestured at Williams belt offhandedly.

"Ah, well one can always hope?"

"Indeed." Issak blew a long cloud of smoke away as he studied William. "If hope is what you need to wake up in the morning just know you're off the maps for Caterina's crew."

William shuffled around a little, looking down the hallway as he puffed on his pipe, waiting for Issak to talk.

"How is 02 operating with two Crusink nanomachines working inside him?"

"Like he did before, I assume."

"Hmm. No change in behavior?"

"Coming back from the dead would likely affect anyone a little bit."

"Only the first time really."

William quirked an eyebrow at his former friend and current nemesis. "First time?"

"Oh come now William, you are smarter than that, you must have figured out that I'm more than human by now."

William shrugged and puffed a bit from his pipe. "I never thought that much about you to be frank, but it makes sense… Augmented?"

"I can't let you see my cards quite yet Wordsworth but I can assure you no man made me what I am… but enough about me hmm?" He motioned for them to continue walking down the hallway.

"Tell me, what were you looking for down there? You say that 02 has had no changes but I can't say I'm entirely convinced… Your man had already taken out the capsule of nanomachines so what were you hoping to find?"

"Curiosity mostly. I was unaware of the pod until recently."

Issak raised an eyebrow. "Really? I had gathered you were of some importance to 02."

"A doctor knows your ailments but that doesn't mean he's your friend on the street." William was beginning to feel suspicious of the press to know how close Abel was to him.

"Point taken. Mein Herr was disappointed in the lack of information regarding 02 and still hopes you will share more about his life."

"Seems a bit ghoulish to me after their last encounter."

"Some things did not go as smoothly as planned. We had hoped 02 would have been less volatile upon meeting us, as it would have saved us from all this headache." They reached the area the pod was sitting in.

Cain was nowhere to be seen, and beside the pod were several metal carts filled with a variety of tools of many types.

"Still haven't gotten it open?"

"No, I didn't want to damage the tissues by just breaking in and the wiring is of such that it's been stubborn to activate the opening sequence."

"Shouldn't Cain know how it works?"

"It hasn't come back to him yet. Unlike Abel, Cain was resurrected from a molecular level. His previous life is but whispers and vague feelings."

William took a last slow puff on his pipe before tapping down the ashes and tucking it away. "So, other than a brief bit of walking with some entertaining discussion… why am I here?"

"We took you quite unplanned, but like I said the other day, I might as well use your skills in the meantime. Time to earn your keep." Issak nudged him towards the pod. "Fix the wiring so we can open it properly then whatever you were trying to do with her to help 02 will help him as well."

"A good cup of tea would go a long way to help me think on where to proceed."

"I can extend that much leniency." Issak walked over to a table across the room.

Lilith seemed to still be preserved well in the pod, no change in skin condition or color. Issak was right to not want to just pop the lid as she could turn to dust quickly once air got to her tissues.

"Hmmm… where to start?" He mumbled, studying the pod.

"Given your knowledge with the killing doll that I've heard worked with 02, this pod should be similar." Issak came back with two cups of tea.

"Possibly. Do you have an area for the autopsy once we get her out?"

Issak nodded. "There's a control panel down near your knee. Perhaps you can crack the sequence to decompress and open the lid."

"Not like I have much choice." William took a few sips of tea before settling down to working on the panel.

Issak watched him for a few moments then left the room.

Surrounded in the quiet, William mulled over the situation. It would be easy to make the pod malfunction and destroy Liliths body. Depending on how that went down, the best case scenario was killing Issak in the blast… along with everyone else including himself. Worst case was just aggravating Issak and getting himself tortured for wrecking the pod.

William had been tinkering for a while and repaired a few wires that seemed to have come loose. His cup was long empty and he was beginning to wonder if he could just slip away given how lax the security seemed, when Cain's bark of laughter came down the hallway.

"What fantastic news! I bet you that we will see him before the month is out. With what Dietrich did and we put out a few more crumbs, he will be here beating down the door." His voice was getting closer, and William could hear two sets of footfalls.

"It was somewhat rash of Dietrich and has pushed the vampire Vatican agenda ahead... while not necessarily a bad thing it was done without orders. Would you like me to deal with him, Mein Herr?"

"Hmm.. no the boy took initiative let's see what he does with it now. Besides the inquisitor is still in play I believe… could let Dietrich into that head to cause some real mischief."

"Of course."

The two men entered the room and walked over to the pod.

"Doesn't look like you have made much progress." Issak said as he looked over the pod.

William shrugged, "like you said the wiring is stubborn but I've made some headway. Could probably get the lights to turn on inside it now."

"That's not very useful." Cain frowned, looking at Lilith.

"Sometimes small steps are needed before a leap can be made." William said in his lecturing professor voice.

"It shouldn't be that hard to get her out. We got the nanomachines out of dead aliens on Mars."

William was still a bit surprised when hearing of their origins, that they were on Mars. Space travel had not been attempted since Armageddon to his knowledge as it was mostly all lost technology.

"Mein Herr, I am hoping to get better specimens to use for repairing your system. It might not work either since she's not a match to you like 02 but it's the current project. William here just had to fix the wiring so I can activate the sequence and avoid damaging the tissues."

"Pah, tedious stuff all of it. After what the boy did, Abel will be here before you two get that thing working."

"If you are fortified better perhaps this time will be successful in taking over his body. Now, let me do my work." Issak chided.

"Oh low blow Issak! Ok, ok I'll go do something else while you two do whatever it is." He tossed up his hands and walked away.

Issak sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose briefly before looking at William. "Hmm, you're due to return to your quarters while I do a few things."

It felt like at least a full day had passed before William was brought back to the main room. Since his last visit, the pod had been moved to a more open part of the room, beside it was a medical isolation bed, with the lid lifted and prepped for Liliths corpse. Issak was dressed in a white lab coat and medical gloves, his long hair tied back and his black eyes were looking over the pod as he seemed lost in thought.

"So good of you to join us, Wordsworth. I believe we are all set to remove her. You watch the panel and I'll activate the lid. Cain be ready to lift her to the gurney."

"Ok." Cain stepped over to wait nearby. Willam felt his skin tingle with apprehension.

"Should we move her so soon?"

"Yes. I can't dissect her properly in that pod. I need it to be set up correctly, I can't stand shoddy workmanship."

William kneeled down to open the panel, while Issak went to the nose of the pod, pressing the buttons in a pattern he must have discovered to open it.

The whoosh and click of the seal breaking exposed them to a foggy cloud of acidic air, choking all of them briefly. Then some lights flickered on and illuminated the edges of the pod. The fog slowly cleared and when they looked inside… no body was found.

"A hologram?!" Issak exclaimed.

William straightened up to peer over the pod. The long white bed that had been visible behind Lilith looked the same as before… but no actual body was there. He squinted his eyes searching along the bed for a clue… at the bottom was a small hole that looked like it could have been a projector.

"Well… plan B?" Cain looked at Issak, eyebrow raised.

"That was an amazing hologram.. never once caught on that it wasn't a dense form." William commented as he stood back from the pod.

"Interesting… they had her cremated but hid the fact. What else are they hiding?" Issak reached in to lift the bed up, finding it was obviously hard fastened. "They would have done her like any other cadaver… organs removed. There should be a container or something."

With a bit of searching his fingers found a latch. When he pulled it back, more of that noxious air spilled out of the pod. Beneath it were two dark metal medical canisters roughly a liquid litre worth in size.

"Not quite what I wanted to work with but I'm sure they'll do." He lifted them out and placed them on the gurney.

Issak turned to William, pulling off the medical gloves. "Now that we have discovered the lack of a body… What were you hoping to do with her if there had been tissues? Answer carefully William, as this is when I decide what to do with you."

William fiddled with his pockets for his pipe a moment gauging what he should reveal to his enemies.

"Ahh well, it wasn't anything concrete just more to examine inactive nanomachines really, since seeing how Abel came back."

Issak arched an elegant eyebrow in disbelief. "It does nothing without getting the basilica virus to power it. That is a pretty weak reason to go grave robbing for you, given your morals codes and who you work for Wordsworth."

Cain watched the exchange before walking closer to William. "Abel doesn't have access to enough basilica… enough vampire blood." Shrewd blue eyes stared into Williams with startling intensity before he reached out and patted Williams shoulder. "You're such a nice friend to Abel! Here you are, still trying to help him. How nice!"

William startled at the contact with Cain, not able to read the crusnik's intent.

"He must be so very hungry… I know I am always ready for more. And fresh is the _only_ way it satisfies." Cain reached around to drape an arm around William companionly.

Issak tilted his head slightly, "02 has been fully fused several weeks now… and was in combat recently. He will either come to us or lose control and do what a Crusnik does best… destruction." He looked at the canisters, shaking his head. "I suppose we wasted our time here with these, but then it seems it's all worked out anyway. If AX does things like they always do, 02 will be contacted to save you. What better way to rile him up than to have him know you're in danger and horrible things might happen if he doesn't save you quickly."

William tried to shrug Cain off to no avail.

"You are merely bait to help reel 02 in and a way to needle the Vatican into more righteous fury.. I'm not above using you to my full advantage."

"Yes well, I did learn that already once when your polished veneer rubs off."

"Indeed… Wordsworth, beneath it all we are all monsters of some ink. Back to the cell for you as I set the stage for 02s return." He nodded to Cain who dropped his hand to Williams back to guide him towards the door.

"Afraid I'll run?"

"Nope, you are most definitely not a runner. It's just so nice of you to care for Abel, it makes me feel all warm and tingly inside."

William shook his head and moved away from the other man's hand. "If you want to be nice for me, tea and some real food while I rot in that box would go a long way."

"Sure I'll find something for you… Hey! I bet you can't guess how much food I need to keep in shape."

Always changing subjects it seemed with Cain… William thought, rolling his eyes slightly.

"You look like a meat and potatoes guy."

"Hmm those are great but bland. I love food, the stronger flavoured the better!"

"I can see that."

"Poor Abel, if he's like me, he's gotta drink at least two litres after that fight with the boy. Those cravings are _terrible_! But I did hear that he's got a vampire woman with him, the dog." Cain winked suggestively.

William shuddered slightly wondering how indeed Abel was doing, surrounded by temptation, was the Duchess still alive? What was left of Abel's self control? His heart clenched in worry, hardly noticing he was back in the room.

"I'll be back with snacks!" Cain waved as he closed the cell door, leaving William to his thoughts.


	22. Chapter 22 Baked Goods

Darkness embraced Abel as he fell into a deep slumber, it was like he was drowning in thick oil unable to rise out of it. Tossing and turning he fitfully fought the cloying feeling around him.

"Lilith?!" He cried out hoping to find her presence in this abyss. If she answered it was lost in the flurry of images from earlier that day, the barrage of bullets ripping his torso, blood and feathers spraying away from him. He tingled with the surge of power as he re-lived his blasting of the Autojägers, the smell of their burnt, dead flesh searing his nose once again. Then everything shifted, and he was back in Londinium fully activated, staring down at Cain who held Astha struggling against his body. She was bleeding from her neck and his mouth was red… " **that's mine!** " 02 growled loudly in his mind.

Instantly his fears from earlier rose up in his throat. "No!" He cried out, his blood spiking with adrenaline. Feeling locked in place he watched Cain run a clawed finger along her cheek and hook it into the jagged wound at her neck, jerking downward to the navel. Cain looked up, eyes locking with Abel's smugly before tossing her aside to bleed out on the floor. Six white wings spread out behind him briefly as he jumped up into the air, challenging Abel to fight.

Abel shook with rage, his back tensing as his own wings pushed him powerfully towards Cain, he swung his scythe as they clashed. Sparks flew as they stabbed and whipped around in their vicious dance. With neither getting an advantage the fighting suddenly went hand to hand, grappling to bring down the other, flesh being torn off their bodies in the brutality of it. There was no humanity left in the two Crusniks, it was pure survival and dominance that drove them on.

" _Abel!"_ He could hear someone calling him, as he struggled against Cain. Then a sharp, stinging pain exploded on his face, cutting his cheek on his teeth.

"Come on you idiot, wake up!"

His eyes snapped open, disoriented as he looked into hers. She seemed to be trying to pin him down, her knees were squeezing him on either side of his hips and her hand was set to backhand him.

"Astha?" he asked, taking in a ragged breath.

"Who else would it be?" She quipped back, puffing from exertion.

He blinked again, yes it was definitely her.

"Uh.. right of course."

"Are you okay now?"

He nodded and she lowered her guard, sitting back into his hips instead of leaning over him. She gasped in surprise as he followed her body,

wrapping his arms around her and pulling her tight against his chest. His hands shook slightly as he rubbed them along her back, needing to physically acern that she was safe and whole… the ugly imagines of his dream still strong in his mind. He felt her return the hug, her body softening and leaning into him.

Astha could feel the hard pounding of his heart against her chest, in the quiet it was easy to hear it as she rested her head along his collarbone.

"You had the power doing all sorts of things, lights were going on and off, a few bulbs exploded I think from power surges… Maria called in a panic to make sure we were ok. You weren't... entirely yourself, some of 02 was there." Astha explained, her breath warm along his throat where his skin was bared.

"Did… did I do anything else?" He asked cautiously as his mouth tasted metallic and his cheek throbbed. Lifting his arms away she shifted back to sit up.

She had woken to the odd flickering of the lights in their room and the sudden pop of a bulb blowing out in the bathroom. In the sporadic light she could see him thrashing around in the bed, when his mouth opened the long fangs of the crusnik were visible, his fingernails had elongated as well. Maria had called then, saying something was going haywire with the power and if their room was having issues. Astha said it was flickering and probably just a spike in the power before hanging up. When she turned back to Abel, he seemed to be fighting, his claws tearing the sheets as the dream held him firm. Unease trickled down her spine at the thought of him activating further...

She took a deep breath and dodged her way on top of him. He knocked her twice across the room before she was successful. Yelling had no effect on him, so locked in his nightmare. It was tense, seeing his teeth snap before her, his face scrunched in anger as he thrashed. Once she had him briefly pinned, she decided a hard slap might work where nothing else had.

He took in her disheveled appearance, her pajama top was torn on the sleeve and the front was barely keeping her decent as it had lost several buttons… he couldn't smell blood, thank God, so he hadn't hurt her too badly but she was still in rough shape.

"Nothing that won't be healed in an hour and a few extra dollars to Maria won't fix."

He let out a sigh of relief mixed with guilt.

"Do you need to talk about it?"

The dark images flashed in his mind, unease tightening in his belly. He shook his head.

"N-no… it's bad enough having seen it once." He looked up at her curiously. "Why on earth would you think to tackle me?"

"Seemed like my only option at the time."

He sighed softly, reaching up to tuck some of her hair behind her ear.

"You need to stop throwing yourself into danger like this."

"It's the quickest way to get results and I'm fairly robust."

"But not indestructible… you brave, foolish woman." A tenderness softened his face as he studied the red lock of her hair. "You are so strong, so committed to your ideals and plans… honestly I don't know why you decided to stay around me." He frowned.

"I was under orders and _technically_ I still am." She grinned at the slight widening of his eyes.

"Under orders?" He blinked, feeling somewhat offended yet not, as her grin grew.

"Well yes, I'm to keep you in one piece as per the Empress."

"Hmm."

Her grin was cheeky and infectious. "I don't think she pays me enough though, I should get some hazard pay or something."

"Indeed… given how you think manhandling me is the way to solve problems."

"It gets results."

"Like I said earlier… foolish." He grinned openly now, his eyes finally showing a warmer emotion than the guilt she saw earlier.

"I've slapped you once I could happily do it again priest."

"I didn't take you for that kind of lady."

She favored him with a throaty laugh.

"Ahh but you are so tempting at times."

"To hit?"

She grinned devilishly at his question. It was nice to see him enjoy the distraction from his earlier upset. And to be honest with herself, she enjoyed it when he returned her teasing.

"Why yes, among other things." She purred, unable to resist pushing the boundaries a little more. He had relaxed finally, gone was the vicious visage of the Crusnik and now the man sat before her. His long hair was tousled and messy as it draped around his face, the tension around his jaw was also gone, giving his mouth back some softness. Her eyes lingered on his mouth for a moment, remembering when they were in the car and he had trailed kisses on her neck. He had admitted to wanting her...

He coughed a little, this conversation was going down a dangerous road especially with her still straddling his hips, and her top was precariously buttoned.

She looked up at him and something in her expression made him aware that she was also noticing their closeness. A hitch in her breathing and growing warmth in her gaze captured his attention. Like gasoline to a flame, temptations he couldn't push away turned into consuming needs, demanding action. He shouldn't be doing this but couldn't stop himself from reaching for her.

"Fuck." He cursed under his breath as he leaned forward, wrapping his arms around her and bringing his lips to hers.

He kissed her with all the pent up desire he had held within, punishing initially before softening up as she responded. He was surprised and delighted at her willingness. A low hmm buzzed from him as he pressed her tightly to his chest. She felt amazing, their tongues sliding along each other's, giving and taking pleasure in the kiss. A moan, deep and throaty rumbled out of Abel as a very feminine sigh escaped Astha when she pulled away slightly for air. The sound, he _ached_ to hear more of it, to feel more of her… his hands trembled as they caressed her back and sides, from the curve of her deliciously shaped bum to the tips of her shoulders and base of her neck, sliding up into her hair and gripping it slightly before going lower again. She had her hands in his hair, along his jaw and neck, caressing and urging him for more. His hands slid under her shirt to touch her hot skin, receiving another low moan from her that made him shudder.

 _Bbbrrriiinnggg bbrinngg_

Abel jerked back at the sound, unable to identify it. His eyes wildly searching their room.

 _Bbbrrriiinnggg bbrinngg_

Astha blinked for a second, also a touch disoriented.

"It's Maria, it's the room phone." She quickly got off the bed to the small phone that was in a heap by the door.

"Hello?"

"Sorry to bother you again! The power should be ok now, they said there were weird surges and it fried some circuits… You might not have full function in your room."

"We will be ok, honest."

"Ok… again very sorry to wake you." The woman seemed quite frantic and embarrassed.

"It's ok, nighttime is my daytime, go back to sleep."

"Oh.. right, again very sorry. Good night."

Abel listened to their exchange as he tried to get a hold of himself. Oh God, now he _hungered_ for her touch… what had he done? He wasn't going to do this… he had decided to stop this before it got worse and now… truly he was so stupid at times. Like the ill fated apple and biblical Eve, he had tasted the forbidden fruit and would be left forever wanting.

Astha turned back to him, sensing the shift in his mood as his gaze rose to hers. Already she could see his barriers were back up, guilt having replaced the heady arousal of moments ago.

"Astha… I-I should not have done that.. I'm sorry."

"There's nothing to apologize for, I could have pushed you away if I wanted."

"Just the same…I lost my head for a moment."

"I believe I had it between my hands." She quipped.

"Your ability to be so glib is aggravating at times." "It's how I deal with things. Abel you don't need to feel guilty for something we both wanted, you are human."

He grunted in response, unable to say anything to that. It was bad enough that the monstrous side of him was thirsty for her blood but now he was struggling with the need for her body. He chastised himself for such a blunder.

She watched him study the torn sheets on the bed, then look about the room for any other signs of his destructive behavior. A chair was broken and the small clock flickered 12:28 in the way of showing the first outage was almost a half hour ago. His eyes flew back to her, narrowing as he studied her again for injuries.

"The chair got the worst of that landing, I didn't expect you to be so coordinated while asleep." She said ruefully, running a hand through her hair.

"If I go into one of those dreams again throw water on me or something… with less contact."

"You had vials a few hours ago, why would you be activating now? I thought the activations were caused by the demands of being fully fused." She asked as she slipped under her blankets.

"I don't know what brought this on.. usually I get trapped in flashbacks of horrible events in my past… but this was replaying today with… some possible outcomes at the end of this journey." He shifted to sit against the headboard.

Astha looked at him intently for a moment. "You saw me get hurt, I take it?"

He nodded, picking up a piece of the torn sheets to examine.

"Did you do it?"

"No."

"Well then, there is that at least."

He sighed, "it's not helpful either way… I am worried about _us_ going after Cain."

She studied his face, how in the dim lighting brought out the worry and exhaustion he carried.

Guilt twinged along her spine as she remembered his angry confession of how he didn't know if he should keep her close or push her away. That he was terrified of killing her because she was near him, that 02 would take over. Stubbornly she felt that they both had needed that moment of passion, that it wasn't a lapse in judgement.

"We will do what we need as things happen, worrying about what if's isn't going to help anyone."

He nodded absently. He wouldn't look at her now, staring intently at his hands.

"We need to decide what we are doing about Detrich or if we are going back to the Empire still."

He hummed in agreement.

"It's not like we are going to get anymore sleep anyway we might as well be busy doing some planning. I"lI go get changed while you dig out the maps and such." She got up, walking over to her bag.

He was sitting cross legged on the floor in his last set of clothes she has gotten him, a loose long sleeved dark brown shirt and a beige set of linen pants. His ponytail draped over his right shoulder, long enough to touch his thigh when he leaned forward. The warm tones of the clothes really showed the cold silver of his hair and the paleness of his skin. He also had his glasses back on, framing his cool blue eyes as he studied the maps. Her eyes drifted to his lips, her mind wandering, shadn't expected him to kiss her earlier. Whatever contact between them had always been her initiating… she had pressed him into a friendly kiss to show her trust earlier. But what had passed between them after his dream left no room for doubting his attraction… nor hers. The realization left her slightly nervous at how he would handle it.

He felt her gaze on him a few times as they looked over the maps. The companionable silence felt heavy with tension.

"I'm going to check out the area around the church today for any signs I think. The maps show some underground access points… old infrastructure by the looks of it."

"Yes. That does look like old underground transit, subway or something?."

"Do you have enough sunlight protection to travel that far?"

"Just have to be more careful, more layers and such since my suit has some substantial tears."

He nodded and looked around the room a moment, thinking.

"If we don't find anything… do you think Petros would have any information?" She asked.

"We wouldn't get access if he does make it… not after being in smelly, abandoned tunnels. Hospitals are usually strict about cleanliness." He smirked.

"Oh right… damn. We really weren't prepared for this."

A polite knock on the door startled them both as they were looking over the maps spread out on the floor. Abel straightened up to answer it, mindful of the early morning sunlight.

"Good morning Mr. Abel." Marie's cheery voice filled the air.

He smiled in response to the older woman's warm smile as she stood balancing a tray of coffee and oven fresh blueberry muffins.

"Good morning Ma'am!"

"It occurred to me this morning that you may not be able to join me for breakfast given the… allergy to sunlight and all." She blinked and noticed that Abel's face was in the sunlight. "Oh my! Please get back in the shade!" In her panic she nearly dropped her tray. Abel quickly reached out to steady the precarious board.

"No worries Ma'am, I'm fine with the sun really." He tried to reassure her as he lifted the tray up.

She looked at him dubiously before shrugging her shoulders.

"I was certain Paddy said you both were ah... night folk."

Astha was eavesdropping from within the room, it was endearing to hear someone try hard to be polite about the terms for Methuselah, especially out of the Empire. She got up and walked by the door, careful of the morning sun.

"He's not wrong Marie, I am the one with the 'health issues' you are referring too. I truly thank you for your concern for me. It's rare to find in human cities."

"Ah well, I feel everyone has a right to dignity and good manners. Sorry for calling you earlier but the power was so strange I was afraid something in your room could have triggered a fire. Power company said they are looking into it anyway… Oh! Paddy said your friend at the hospital survived the night and was conscious if you wanted to see him." She patted around her clothes and withdrew a piece of paper, setting it on the tray Abel was holding for her. "Here's the address and room number for him."

"You have our thanks, it's wonderful news to hear he is awake!" Abel cheerfully said.

"Paddy said if it hadn't been for all the enhancements the church had done to the man he wouldn't have made the ambulance ride… a blessing for him I imagine! Please enjoy the breakfast, and let me know if I can help out in any way." She waved as she turned to walk back down the small sidewalk.

Bringing in the breakfast tray, Abel's stomach growled loudly at the lovely smell of freshly baked muffins. Setting it down on the small table he grabbed a muffin, inhaling the delicious smell before taking a bite.

Astha chuckled as she watched him savour the first muffin. His eyes were closed as he munched away. She set out the cups and poured coffee, inhaling the smell of dark roast.

"You need to try one! Homemade baked treats are one of my favorite foods." He urged when he heard her chuckle.

"I thought anything food was your favorite."

He shrugged. "When you've lived off some of the things I have… well you enjoy what you can."

"AX fed you so poorly?" She teased, taking a muffin.

"When on an assignment sometimes I didn't have enough funds to get much food, it's where the tea and sugar habit really came in." He sobered a little, looking at his muffin a bit before continuing. "And before that I lived a long time on freeze dried rations and supplements… but anyway, these are very good muffins."

Her eyes softened with compassion as she glanced at him.

"So now that we know he's alive… should we start there?" She sipped her coffee.

"What information do you think he would have?"

She shrugged, unsure of what Petros would remember from his encounter with the Orden. "Perhaps he overheard something while he was left hanging?"

"Hmm, it did look like he had been there a while."

"Let's finish up and go there before the sun is high up."

"I can't go in there, he'll recognize me."

"No glasses, hair loose, different clothes and way of moving… I think you can make do as a bodyguard of no consequence, you did say you're a good actor."

"If I feel he is looking at me too close then I'll leave."

She nodded, reaching out for another muffin.

"I best have another before you eat them all." She grinned, as there were only two left in the basket.

An hour later they were walking towards the room Petros was in. Abel had taken the idea of a bodyguard easily enough, looking the part of a cautious security detail to the duchess. Astha was impressed by his ability to blend into a role.

They had talked out what questions she was to ask Petros and if he became suspicious of Abel how to deflect him.

"Room 436, this should be him." She said and looked in the hospital room.

A bed to the left was empty and lights turned off, towards to right was Petros large form. He was looking out the window, several ivs were hooked up to him.

"Ahem, Chief Inquisitor?" Astha politely inquired.

He turned his head slowly to look at his guests.

"Yes?" He blinked a few times looking at them without recognition. Then he scrunched up his face a little more studying Astha as she walked up to his bedside, Abel staying just inside the doorway.

"I am Annabel, we were able to save you from the church yesterday. We have a few questions for you if you feel up to talking to us."

"I remember your face now." His gaze moved past her to Abel.

Abel had left his hair down, without glasses and had his sleeves rolled up to his elbows like he had seen Dandelion wear his shirts. It was the best he could do for looking not like himself as they could with his lack of clothing.

"My partner Jacob." Astha said offhandedly in introduction.

Petros looked a little longer at Abel before returning to Astha.

"I... thank you both for your help yesterday, I am told I was in bad shape."

Abel winced, remembering Petros only had one way of talking, loud, so he closed the door to give them a bit more privacy.

"You had to have been up there a while, sir. The blood loss was immense. Can you tell us how you ended up there?"

"I was destroying those gas mask wearing degenerates, when I was knocked down and tied to that cross." He seemed quite embarrassed that he had been captured. "They seemed a lot stronger than I expected."

"They are enhanced soldiers if that is any consolation."

He grunted accepting the fact. "Had to be to withstand my strength… Anyways after they nailed me into the cross and cut my armor off, the elderly priest came in with a knife and stabbed me in the side. He didn't move right for his age… was he also enhanced? The blasphemy of being attacked by a member of the clergy.." Petros's monitors showed his heart rate was increasing as well as blood pressure.

"He was possessed by someone else."

"Devilry!" Petros crossed his chest with his bandaged left hand, some of the lines to his various bags of fluid fluttered around with his movements. "I must return to the Vatican at once to bring back troops!"

Astha nodded, figuring giving him reasons for his predicament might be best given what Abel said of his temperament.

"We need to know if you heard that priest mention anything about another location." She urged.

The sunlight in his room was increasing, Astha stepped back a bit from the bed, which made Petros eye her curiously.

"Mind if we close the blinds a little before the sun comes in here?"

"The sun is but a small gift of god's greatness. I was looking to be bathed in his healing warmth."

She looked at Abel, who shrugged and moved a bit more in the room.

"It was an odd word… Mittelwerk. He needed to get more men from there is all I remember." Petros was eyeing Abel as he got closer. "What was your name again?"

"Jacob." Abel had to force himself to keep his voice lower than normal.

"You look familiar… what division are you a part of?"

"Local detachment."

Petros grunted. "This is my first time in this city, but I plan to return to squash this violent display towards the Vatican and our Pope. It can not be tolerated."

"Of course, Chief Inquisitor. Is there anything else you remember?" Astha prodded.

The room now had beams of sunlight peaking in the room at an upwards angle. Astha shifted around, nervous at the rays coming in. She had held off putting on her gel so that it didn't tip Petros off that she wasn't human. The trip to the hospital had her cloaked in a deep cowled hood, but it would be conspicuous in his hospital room.

"I saw an angel so dark and terrifying yet he lifted me with greatest care… eyes of red and wings of black. I remember that clearly." He cocked his head to the side as Abel fidgeted. "I have no other plausible reason for how I was taken down... When did you get there?"

"Just before dark, you were already on the ground." Astha quickly answered.

"I remember your face now, and flashes of light… the smell of burnt rotting flesh. There was a fight?"

"Uh.. yes, there was some."

He nodded, taking a slow shallow breath.

"Thank you for your help. If you ever are in need, I swear to help you by any means I can, I am in your debt."

He pinned Astha with an intense stare, giving his oath a level of commitment that was almost uncomfortable.

"Thank you Chief Inquisitor Petros, if I ever have need I will take you up on it." She nodded in respect and turned to leave.

They were almost to the door when Petros spoke again.

"Nightroad."

Both Abel and Astha froze a moment then turned towards Petros.

"I'm sorry, did you remember something else?" She asked, hoping to pull Petros's gaze from Abel.

"Nightroad… the priest said it several times. But the man who held that name is dead… I carried his coffin to the church in Londinium." He gestured towards Abel, his bandaged hand unable to point. "You look like him, but I know he has passed away."

"I'm sorry for your loss… We have strained you too much, I'm afraid Chief Inquisitor. Please rest, you had a traumatic day yesterday." Astha said soothingly. "Thank you for your time, I pray for a speedy recovery."

They quickly left the room, Petros watching them with some confusion.

"That was close!" Abel muttered as they reached the elevator.

"In more ways than one, he isn't as dumb as you made him out to be."

"Never said he was dumb just.. loud and reactive… kind of like you honestly."

That got him an icy glare.

"I'm not loud."

Abel could not stop the smirk that stretched across his lips.

He received a firm punch to his shoulder for that.

They reached the main floor lobby heading for the doors when Abel put his hand on her forearm.

"You need your gel, I'll wait for you." He pointed towards the washrooms.

"Right, I can't believe I almost forgot."

Abel stood patiently near the doors, his mind busy wondering what next they should do.

Mittelwerk…. that sounded German, but not a town or city he had heard of before. Professor might have some idea of where or what Mittelwerk was.

Astha walked up and touched his arm, ready to go out now.

"Let's go back to Maria's first before we try anything else."

The city seemed to be back to normal hustle and bustle now after the calamity of yesterday. The radio in the taxi had a short news update saying that no one had claimed the terrorist attacks yet but police were looking for a tall man with white hair and a woman with a distinctive red stripe in hers for questioning. Luckily the driver wasn't paying attention to the news and dropped them off without much of a second glance.

"I think we've worn out the welcome here in Krakow." Abel muttered as they returned to their room.

Astha let out a sigh of relief as the door closed behind them.

"Tired?"

"It's just unnatural to be out in true daylight so often."

"Ah makes sense."

"I'll be ok when we get to moving around at night again."

He nodded and sat down on the couch.

"Go sleep for a while, I'm going to see if William can help us with Mittelwerk."

She nodded, going into the bedroom.

"This is Iron Maiden." Sister Kate answered the call.

"Hi Sister Kate."

"Abel!"

"Can you transfer me to the Professor?"

"When did you last talk to him?"

"A week ago, why?"

"Did he say anything about going somewhere?"

"N-no, what's happened Sister Kate?"

"My last recording of his gps is in the catacombs in the lower west wing. That was several days ago."

"The pod…" he whispered.

"Did he say anything to you?"

"He should have found a casket, ancient technology in design… Tres knows exactly where that is."

"Ok… how do you know what's down there?"

"I uh… wandered around a lot while in the Vatican."

"Caterina has called in Leon and sent him with Tres to find him. They found tracks to an abandoned storage section, Professors and two others… then nothing, no returning footprints or anything in the dust."

"That doesn't sound good.. let me know how I can help if I can." He had a bad feeling about Williams' disappearance.

"You're not an agent anymore Abel."

"But I am a friend."

"Very well. If Caterina permits me I will contact you."

"Thank you, Sister Kate. I do have a reason for calling and perhaps you can help me. Could you tell me anything about a place called Mittelwerk?"

The line was silent for a moment as she accessed her databases.

"Pre Armageddon, world war 2 underground missile construction base. Flooded and sealed due to looters and unsafe conditions. Located near Nordhausen, Thuringia Germany…. that's a very old site Abel. I'm not pulling up anything further… why?"

"I might have a lead."

"Lead for?"

"Things?"

An exasperated sigh answered him. "You are not an agent anymore, you need to rest and relax."

"Yes Ma'am."

Abel got out the maps again, looking to see if the towns Kate had mentioned even existed anymore. His mind wandered over the fact that William might be in trouble, going down to Lilith's lifepod meant that it had to do with him. Cain would do anything to get more nanomachines…

"Dammit." He cursed, frustrated at Williams' situation and that the map didn't cover Germany with any of those names.

He needed to do some research… Perhaps Maria knew of a library or something.

He checked in on Astha, smiling slightly at the soft snore she gave in her sleep.

"Come in." Maria called out when Abel knocked on the door.

"Sorry to bother you Maria, wanted to return your tray and ask a few questions."

The older woman smiled and took the tray. "Sit a while, I just made more coffee and some biscuits."

"So young man how can I help you?" She asked, stirring her coffee briefly.

"Are there any libraries here?" He tried to not devour the still oven warm biscuits with butter she had set out.

"Hmm, yes there's one a few blocks away, should be open today if memory serves me right."

"Ah ok. Does Krakow have a university or something that studies history?"

She shook her head.

"Have you ever heard of Mittelwerk?"

"No, is it a place?"

"Apparently." He took a sip of coffee and scowled at the dark bitterness of the drink. He quickly added several spoons of sugar and a dollop of cream.

"If you go soon, the library will still be open."

He nodded. "Is there a clothing shop nearby as well?"

Maria smiled. "There's an excellent men's store just down from the library. The gentleman who works there is a good friend of mine. I couldn't help but notice some of your clothes had seen better days."

"I'm notoriously hard on things it seems. Thank you for the help."

"Think nothing of it, I still feel bad for calling your room last night. Will you two be needing the room again tonight?"

"I'm not sure… depends what I find out." He finished his cup and looked at the clock, one thirty. "I best try to get done my errands."


	23. A Well Dressed Man

Abel's walk to the library was relaxing, giving him a chance to clear his head. So much had happened in the barely two months since Londinium… everything had changed.

The cloak of the fool was not so easy to wear as he felt his ties to Father Nightroad loosen. Gone was the Vatican, the familiarity of AX with the knowing eyes of Caterina and the steady nature of Esther. Replaced now with the full fusion of the monster, temptation in all forms from Astha and a cruel battle to come with Cain. Having William tossed in was just icing to the cake.

"What a mess this is, if I could get ulcers I would be riddled with them." He muttered as he walked.

The streets around were moderately busy, cars driving by and a few pedestrians. The fall weather added flickers of warm golds and orange against the dull tan of dying grass and dark gray pavement.

It was nice to walk alone, away from any methuselah, brush shoulders with humans and not feel the spike of hunger. A cool wind rustled the leaves along the street giving him goosebumps along his bare forearms. He had forgotten to roll down his sleeves after visiting Petros. His silver hair flitted around him, reminding him to get his hair tie out of his pocket. Looking along the buildings ahead he spotted an older brick building with a stately written _biblioteka_ on the side.

His thoughts tumbled over to earlier that morning… Astha on top of him, leaning into his kisses and returning them eagerly. He could hear her sighs, his fingertips tingling at the remembered texture of her skin. He took a deep breath, pushing the memory away… he needed to focus, damnit.

Bells jingled as he stepped in the dimly lit library.

A startled woman looked up from the desk. She was a young girl, reminiscent of Esther in age. Dirty blond hair in a bun, large glasses and wearing a sensible green sweater.

"Good Afternoon Sir, can I help you find anything?"

"I'm looking for some history books… pre Armageddon." He stepped fully in the library, blinking as his eyes adjusted.

"Ah… well, my archives are decent but I don't know how far back they go. Back wall to the west are the listings if you want to give it a go."

He nodded and waved thanks.

Thankfully his years in the Vatican and doing primary with Caterina had taught him how many card systems worked… painfully manual but it was effective. Before him was five large filing cabinets full of the small 3x5 paper cards.

 _European History_ , that looked promising. A few titles scribbled down on a pad of paper had him going into the library proper in search of several titles.

He found a very old book, likely not opened in decades. "Train Tracks to Nowhere, a Tourist Adventure in Old World Locations." He tucked the book under his arm and looked around a little more. "Old World Encyclopaedia, Maps." Was another he picked out.

Abel sat down at the reading desks and proceeded to flip through both books. He learned that Thuringia was a county within central Germanicus but the name Nordhausen was not listed anywhere. A few mines were in the area for gypsum. The train tracks book mentioned an abandoned missile construction base that was turned into a museum in the region and tracks that led to it but even seventy years ago when the book was written, it was reported to be caved in. He jotted down the gps coordinates and the name Kohnstein, a landmark of sorts that came up several times in the books.

"Well it is a start at least." He got up and returned the books.

"Did you find what you needed Sir?" The girl inquired as he went to leave.

"Oh, why yes thank you." He smiled and walked out of the library.

The men's store was close to closing when Abel walked in, a slim older man of smaller stature looked up from where he was sweeping the floor.

"Hello, how can I help you?" He asked, sizing Abel up already with his experienced eyes.

"Uh, yes… I need a coat, and a few shirts."

"Long or short for the coat, and what colors?"

The man set aside the broom and was walking further into the store, beckoning Abel to follow.

"Long? Dark or black. The shirts… whatever is handy."

"Tsk, you must have a preference."

"They never last long enough for me to worry."

The man raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything. He pulled out two long dark grey jackets for him to try on. The first fit a bit loose on him but the second was a great fit. It was made out of a smooth, durable wool blend by the feel of it.

"I admit I'm a bit afraid of the cost…"

"You're an odd size so it's on sale since it's been here since last fall." The clerk looked a bit longer at Abel's face before heading towards the shelves with shirts.

"That's handy." Abel felt awkward having the man looking at him so closely.

"With your color of hair and eyes, here's a few serviceable blue shirts that would compliment your complexion the best." He handed Abel three shirts and walked to the till.

"The radio and news have said they are looking for a person of your build and color… should I be worried?" The sales clerk asked, body language cautious..

Abel blinked, having forgotten the news report. He shook his head and held out his hands in front of him, placatingly.

"No, I don't have anything to do with that report."

The man nodded. "Good." He rang up the bill, Abel paid it with a fair number of his bills but he had easily lived on less. The clerk snipped off the tag from the coat and tucked the shirts in a paper bag.

"Have a good evening sir."

Astha looked up from the couch when Abel walked in, she seemed groggy still so she must not have been awake long. She looked a bit better, the hollows of her face filled in and her color was much improved he noticed.

"How long was I down?"

"About five hours. I was able to get some information on Mittelwerk, or at least the area… among other things."

"Oh? Something doesn't sound good about that."

"The professor is missing. He went down to Liliths pod and the tracks just stop."

"Tracks? As in more than one person?"

"Yes."

"You are thinking Cain is involved?"

He nodded, putting his bag down and shrugging out of his coat and boots.

"That just means we have to find them before anything happens to Wordsworth." She moved over on the couch so he could sit by her.

He took out the folded notepad from the library.

"This area of Germanicus has tracks that lead to an old underground missile base from the second world war. It was supposedly closed in, even the museum portion… but we know things can change after a thousand years."

"That old?!"

"Concrete and steel from pre Armageddon are easily found today, look at the Vatican."

"Oh… I guess." She rubbed the back of her head, feeling a bit foolish. He smiled at her reassuringly.

"It's ok, if I hadn't called Sister Kate I wouldn't have had anything to go on at all. Here, hand me the geography map."

They opened the map and could see the different countries. "So middle of Germanicus. By a large forest and ridge of foothills."

"I don't see a town anywhere near there."

"There probably isn't one anymore, even the maps I looked at had little to go on."

"We are going backpacking aren't we?"

"You didn't do bad last month."

"It's colder now." She paused and placed her finger a bit west of where they were looking. "Hey… isn't that where we crashed?"

Abel studied the map a bit more. "You're right! We go almost directly northwest from here and it lines up with where we crashed."

They looked up at each other both excited at having connected the dots.

"I'll get Hector to gather supplies for us and then figure out some sort of transport… by land I suppose since we are looking for an entrance?"

"You need a new UV suit as well."

"Yes, since you keep dragging me around in the daylight."

"Hey, it's just more things happen during the daytime… Also I need to check in with Seth, perhaps she has an alternative for me."

"We went over this last night."

"I'm not going to turn down another option if there is one Astha, you might need your strength."

She let out a huff. "Ok, we can dart back, grab what we need and leave by tomorrow night?"

He nodded, grateful she wasn't going to push the issue.

"I see you got a new coat, it looks nice."

He felt his cheeks warm slightly at her praise. "It's colder out than a shirt can handle comfortably. There was a store just down from the library so it worked out."

She nodded and got up, folding up the maps and checking the clock.

"We have about an hour until the sun is low and our ship should be at the location."

They gave Maria a warm goodbye, with extra cash for the damages. She had been a lovely host and they truly wished her the best. Maria, of course sent Abel away with a bag full of biscuits and muffins, muttering that he needed to eat more.

As soon as the taxi stopped, Astha was out and grabbing their bags before Abel had even paid the driver. She impatiently tapped her foot as he finished up with the driver and turned towards her.

"The ship is to be at dock 305." She pointed around the signs and started walking briskly towards the 300 row. Abel had to increase his stride to keep up.

"Astha! Wait up!"

"Pick up your feet then, I don't want to miss the ship!" She flashed annoyed eyes at him.

"Are we late?" He caught up and matched her pace.

"It'll be close, we took too long leaving Maria's."

"But I have baking." He grinned as she rolled her eyes.

They reached dock 305 and a medium sized airship was readying for departure.

"Wait! We are your passengers! Hold up a few moments!" She called out, waving at a man who was standing near the ramp.

The trip back to the empire was short thankfully as the ship had barely space for them to sit amongst the cargo boxes.

"I feel like a stowaway." Abel grumbled as he was yet to find a way to relax comfortably.

"At least you're a well dressed one." She smirked.

"It _is_ a nice coat. Too bad I'll wreck it sooner or later." He lamented, looking at the simple silver buttons down the front.

"The Vatican must have spent a mint keeping you decent if every time you activated you destroyed your clothes."

"Always came out of my pay.. I have gotten pretty good at sewing though." He smirked, getting out a muffin to eat.

"How shall we travel in Germanicus? Tourists?"

He quietly finished his food, contemplating. Something he had in his bags might just be the perfect disguise for them.

"How about as clergy members?"

Astha blinked then opened her mouth just to close it again.

"Before you blow a gasket," that got him glared at. "Listen, if we go as the church we can find out more in these small backwater towns. Caterina gave me a uniform exactly for this purpose."

"Ok, you are covered but what about me?"

"You just follow me around being a humble and shy nun?" He grinned as he watched her process his suggestion.

"Surely there's some other way. Besides I don't have any… What do you call them? Robes? Habits?"

"We will find something suitable, I haven't looked into your wardrobe but white is a color you seem to have."

"Tourists would be easier." She grumbled.

"But not to find out anything that might be suspicious to the locals." He tapped his temple with his index finger. "Who else do locals talk to about weird and unusual happenings than the clergy?"

"I don't have a lot of experience with locals and religion… How do you explain a vampire nun?" She arched an eyebrow at him.

"Don't open your mouth? Be a mute?"

He dodged the glove she tossed at him. "That's not going to happen."

"I will hide you as best I can, it's only for a day or so realistically. Like I said be shy and look down a lot, most won't notice your teeth that way. From there it's backpacking in the bush."

She nodded, leaning forward to retrieve her glove from where it had missed and slid down beside him. She heard his intake of breath when she was close to him.

"Abel?" She asked as she sat back, looking at him with concern. "I drew up another vial… perhaps you should take it before we land."

He sighed, looking away for a few moments. Astha could see his frustration in the tightness in his jaw, knowing he was struggling with his beast as much as his issues with taking her blood.

"Alright… I'll take it now since I'm not sure how soon we will be landing." He looked back at her, red swirling in his eyes for a moment.

Quickly she took the vial out of her coat where it had been kept at body temperature.

"Hopefully I don't short anything out." Abel grumbled as he took the vial from her. "You might want to look away… it's probably unsettling to watch."

He flicked off the cap and lifted it to his lips, glancing for a moment to her before closing his eyes to drink it down.

Astha watched in fascination as he swallowed, the minute flickers of the Crusnik rippling to the surface of Abel's skin before disappearing. The dusky skin tone darkened his fair complexion and the unnerving red glare of his eyes before he closed them. His adam's apple bobbed as he finished his swallow and opened his eyes again, showing cold blue once again. He took in a few deep breaths before looking down at the vial and closing the lid.

"You really _are_ that tightly intertwined with the Crusnik aren't you?" She asked after a while.

He looked up momentarily startled, before a quiet sadness darkened his gaze.

"Physically I don't think there's much of me that's original anymore. I have been horrifically wounded many times… that last one was fatal if it hadn't been for Caterina. I can now say all of me has been rebuilt by the nanomachines at least once now." He smirked a little, looking down at his hands, still holding the vial. "I am really just the human trappings to an alien technology out for domination and consumption of others."

"No.. you're so much more than just a covering. You still have an awareness and a will to survive." She moved a bit closer and plucked the vial out of his hands to tuck back in her coat. Sitting on the edge of her seat she laid a hand over his.

"There you go again with all this faith in me. What draws you? Why? Are you not afraid?" He moved his hand up under her wrist, wrapping his fingers around her in a near punishing grip. A threat of violence filled the air between them. "I've tried not to dwell on your words from last night but once more I am wondering how you can be here, with me, knowing all that you do and _still_ placing yourself in harm's way. I can hear your heart rate accelerate, feel the jump in your pulse as I restrain you and still taste your blood on my tongue… Yet you sit here without an ounce of fear? How can you be so… this?" He gestured towards her with his other hand.

She looked up into his face, seeing the confusion and frustration mar his features.

"Because you are _you_. I can see your struggle, the misery your past paints in your gaze and yet you are still pushing forth to stop something none of us can do, not knowing if you can. Nothing has changed for me Abel."

Blue eyes glistened with unshed tears as he looked into her steadfast golden ones. He relaxed his grip from her wrist, caressing the bruised flesh with his hand in repentance.

"Perhaps your faith in me will be what holds me together."

He smiled softly as he reached up with his other hand to caress her face for a moment, letting his thumb brush along the contour of her cheekbone.

" _Landing in five minutes."_ Echoed in the cargo bay, startling them both as the ship did a bit of a lurch as it set into the landing sequence. They moved apart to keep from being pitched out of their make do chairs.

"You really think we should do the whole priest and nun thing?" Astha asked after a few minutes.

"Yes, they wouldn't know I'm technically not employed anymore so I should be able to access a lot of data and get you in some safer lodgings."

"What I let you talk me into." She rolled her eyes dramatically.

"I admit I'm curious to see you in a nun's habit." He waggled his eyebrows suggestively as a boyish smile tugged at his lips.

Astha laughed heartily.

Hector was waiting for them at the dock, his face easily displaying his worry at the state of Astha's coat.

"Are you ok my Lady?" He quickly took their bags and ushered them to the car.

"Of course, don't I look ok?"

"No, madame not really." He pointedly said as he waited for them to get in the car so he could close the door.

Abel tried to hide a smirk, seeing the gruff mannerisms from her butler.

"Hello to you too, Hector. Is everything else doing well?"

"Yes, I have managed to keep everyone alive and well in your absence." He climbed into the driver's seat and started the car.

"We will be leaving soon, depending on how quickly we can arrange it."

"I thought as much that would be the way of it… once we are home, give me the list and I will do my best." He sighed wearily, his eyes flickering back at his passengers through the rear view mirror briefly.

"Thank you Hector."

"You both should at least soak in the hot pools to help soothe the strain I can see in your faces."

"Is he normally this bossy?" Abel whispered to Astha, who nodded.

"It's on my list of things to do before we go, since I'm not sure how long we will be away this time."

"A more involved mission then?"

"Yes, it will last at least a week to a month possibly. With some trekking through the wilderness."

"Oh dear. I haven't any time to waste getting your supplies then."

Seth was sitting on the edge of the porch at the estate when they got there, dressed in a soft blue tunic, short black skirt and matching blue tall boots. Beside her unabashedly was Isabel, soaking in tummy rubs from the Empress. When Astha walked up, the tigress merely raised her head towards her mistress before relaxing into more pets.

"She appears to think I'm useful for something." Seth smiled when they approached before getting up to greet them.

Astha bowed in respect before taking a seat nearby. Abel smiled at his sister warmly before she rushed forward and gave him a quick hug.

"So… things didn't go as well as we hoped?"

"Not quite, but we kept the casualties down at the consulate, a lot of the emergency workers would have perished otherwise. The Orden was involved and we fought with one of their operatives, Dietrich von Lohengrin. Unfortunately he was not killed but we learned some information and have a lead to where Cain is most likely hiding at." Abel reported as he sat down in the chair next to Astha.

Seth nodded as she turned towards them, leaning on a beam casually. "I've sent people to help with the site cleanup and the political mess that stunt caused. Thank you for preventing it from being uglier." Seth paused for a moment looking at her brother intently. "You are leaving right away then?"

He nodded in affirmation.

"I have a tiny bit of good news, there is a gel pill formula that is looking to be more promising for you but the active levels are so low it's not viable yet."

"At least there's some progress. Thank you."

"I had to find something to keep me busy. I don't have you around to pick on." She teased.

"There's always Beybars."

"He's gotten used to my games." Seth shifted a little against the beam to face more fully towards Astha. "Having been in combat with him, what are your thoughts?"

"The Crusnik is very effective in battle, without it we would have been in trouble at the church."

"Yes, yes I know the strengths of the Crusink… were you affected while in battle?"

"No… it was surprising but I am not afraid of it, even in high activation. I have reason to believe the crusnik would rather keep me around than toss me away like a food wrapper."

Seth blinked a long moment, curiosity lighting her eyes.

"Really? How would you know what 02 would want? Did it communicate with you?"

"Sort of."

"Good! See Abel I knew she would be great for you." Seth beamed at him.

Abel looked shyly at Astha for a moment. "It's been full of surprises for me to say the least. Not many would stand next to the beast unscathed." He said softly, praising her.

A smile drifted across Seth's face before she sat down to pet Isabel who had padded over for more pets.

"You mentioned you might have a lead?"

"Kingdom of Germanicus."

Seth arched an eyebrow. "They are not on friendly terms with us."

"They are quite prickly about the whole vampire thing and with King Ludwig it's not exactly an inviting place…. but the church is still a strong presence, and I know a few things."

"How far do you have to go?"

"About three hundred kilometres south east of where you found us a few weeks ago."

Seth blinked in surprise. "Of course that would make sense! Ohh how could we be so blind to that glaring clue?"

"There were other things happening at the time."

"I suppose… hmm I can't really fly you in if they are shooting down my ships."

"Drop us off at Prague and we could take a car or train?" Astha suggested.

"We should be safe on the east side of Prague."

"Do you have any inventions that would help with camping for Astha?"

"Camping? We have made a few tents out of the UV suit material that have proven to be tough enough for use in the fields… You're not staying in the towns?"

"No… where we need to go is pre Armageddon, World War Two era ruins."

Seth whistled softly. "Oh boy. That predates the UN." She idly kept petting the big cat.

Abel nodded. "I also have a strong suspicion that Cain has the life pod and my friend Wordsworth."

"The life pod?"

"Lilith's."

"He's trying to harvest more nanomachines. The tube you got was all of it, we cremated her and set up a high definition hologram in the pod. She had left me a note of her wishes before she went to Cain…You didn't know?"

Abel looked at Seth a long moment, disbelief on his face. "N-no, I didn't… she went up there knowing it was a trap?!"

"I think she was hoping for the best but planned for the worst… you knew how she was… I didn't find the note for a few days afterwards and you were so inconsolable that I just took care of it. Then I didn't see you until a few years ago."

Abel grunted, looking out at the lawn as he digested her words.

Astha watched the exchange, her mind puzzling out the information with what she knew of the Empress and Abel. She got up and knelt before Seth, reaching out to rest her hand beside Seth's on Isabel's fur.

"My deepest apologies if I am overstepping my bounds but… you both seem more connected than what you've led me to believe. If you knew his Lilith, and Cain… Empress you must be one of the Crusink? It's just… what I've learned and the way you are together… Eternal Mother, you have birthed our nation, it only makes sense with your longevity that it's the same as his."

Seth's startled eyes looked down at Astha's bowed head, her ivory hair a curtain around her face. She looked up at Abel who shrugged his shoulders then nodded. She moved her hand to clasp Astha's and with the other to her chin, urging her to look up.

"I guess I stopped trying to hide it given what you do know… Astharoshe, your clever mind is never at rest it seems. Does this revelation bother you? Am I still your friend and Empress?"

She looked up into Seth's youthful face framed by whimsical wisps of her black hair that was at odds with the wise gaze that filled those luminous green eyes. Empress Augusta was as much Seth as Abel had been Father Nightroad; just the disguise had been worn far, far longer.

As she looked into her eyes Astha felt that the knowledge actually helped her understand Seth better.

"My loyalties have never waivered nor will they, _my_ Empress." She smiled and then leaned forward to embrace the petite woman. "And I am honored to call you my friend still."

"Thank you, Astharoshe. A girl can never have too many friends." She smiled warmly as she moved out of the embrace and winked at her before standing up. "Now, I'll go back and see what I can dig up for sun protection and get him restocked in vials… though on a prolonged trip I'm sure you're aware of what you might become his supply Astharoshe?"

"It's been discussed."

"Otherwise I would say do the thing Ion said that they do in Londinium with the silver but then that weakens you both in the long run."

Astha and Abel nodded, him coming closer to them as it looked like Seth was ready to leave.

"I'll walk you out if you'd like?"

Seth smiled at her brother, "of course! See you in a few hours." She waved at Astha before taking Abel's arm.

"Things have improved between you two?" Seth asked as they walked.

"She's wholeheartedly committed to helping me if that's what you mean."

"And you?"

"I, ah well, I…I'm worried for her, she's brought up emotions I haven't had in a very long time."

A sly smirk spread across her face.

"You like her, as in _liiiikkkee_ her?"

He coughed a bit in embarrassment.

"Perhaps more than I should… I don't know what will come from it… I have stayed away from any connections like that for a long time."

"It's good for you to live a little. Find something, someone that's more than stopping Cain as a reason to be here."

"I am nine hundred and seventy six years old Seth, I have lived a long time already."

"Yes. But it sounds like you didn't live most of those years. You always wanted your _own_ life Abel, without orders and predetermined outcomes…. Think about it." She leaned forward and hugged his middle briefly before dancing away. "Ah, love." She teased, grinning at his grumpy expression as she waved goodbye.

Abel walked back to the estate to be met by Isabel and another orange tiger he couldn't remember its name. They rubbed against his legs and bunted at his hands, quite a change in demeanour from his first few visits to the estate. Their rumbling purr was comforting and made him smile as he tried to wade past them to return to the patio.

"I go away and my tigers are desperate for anyone's attention it seems." Astha grinned watching the tigers do their best to knock him over. She gave a quick kiss cue and they moved off of Abel to lay down by her feet.

Hector walked out of the manor with a tray of lemon water and some fruit for them. They quietly helped themselves before Hector gave a polite cough.

"So, what can I gather for you my lady?"

Astha looked at Abel over her glass.

"Do you remember the young nun that accompanied Abel during his last visit?"

"I do, she was a lovely girl… why?"

"Do you think we have anything similar to her white nun robes?"

"Habit." Abel corrected, a smirk teased his lips as he held her gaze.

"No, not really… their style of dress is very different from anything you have."

"See! We need to go as tourists." She waved a slice of melon at him.

"We did receive a package from the Duchess of Milan while you were gone.. if I were to be bold enough to suggest it felt like cloth."

Abel's eyes snapped up at Hector then back to Astha. "As far as I knew she was kept out of the loop of my activities."

"I'll bring it over." Hector disappeared for a few moments.

"A woman like her wouldn't be without her own intel, surely you know that." Astha arched an eyebrow. "She's out to protect a lot of things… knowledge is truly the sword she must wield."

"Hmm I guess so… it's sad she would spy on her own people."

"I think when it comes to you, you are more than just one of the agents. I was around her when news of you being injured first came in. It was a devastating blow to her."

He sighed, accepting her point.

Hector came back out with a large brown paper wrapped bag. Astha took the package and opened it, a letter written in elegant style drifted to the floor as she pulled out a white nuns habit.

"This is just too uncanny." Setting the dress on her lap she reached down and picked up the note.

" _Duchess of Odessa and Marquis of Kiev,_

 _I have heard you are now partnered with him, you have both my condolences and congratulations. Knowing him, he will need to utilize his old profession sooner or later. I felt it was prudent to send you a little bit of help._

 _Please take care of him._

 _Sincerely_

 _C._

"I don't begrudge her timing though… she had to have sent this before we even left for Krakow." Astha commented, setting the note down for Abel to look at if he wished.

"I am not completely surprised, she was ever the planner."

"Dammit, so we have to do it your way." Astha grumbled and downed her glass of water.

"It's a small sacrifice." He grinned, watching her bristle.

"I'm going to pack and then head for the pools since you're gloating. Let's hope Seth sends over the tent and uv suits soon."

Hector and Abel watched her leave before Abel chuckled.

"She seems a touch unhappy with the gift I would say." Hector observed.

"I'd say you're quite right… please toss in her bag extra aqua vitre pills, she had to take several due to injury and sun exposure while we were gone. Hmm and she needs very sensible boots and neutral colored clothing for the bush."

"And you? You seem to have but one bag of belongings."

"I just need dried sweets and high calorie snacks. I will get by with whatever else I can pick up on the way."

Hector nodded, taking the empty tray and disappearing into the manor.


End file.
